Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Western Digital shares hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $351.87 after Citigroup raised its price target to $405 and maintained a Buy rating.
• Analysts are broadly bullish—multiple firms (including Sanford Bernstein and Morgan Stanley) have raised targets citing AI-driven storage demand; the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $288.33, though many targets are well above that.
• Insiders sold roughly 92,795 shares (about $24.3 million) over the last quarter, even as large institutional investors have built substantial positions and institutions now own about 92.51% of the stock.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock to $405.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $351.87 and last traded at $350.16, with a volume of 5390681 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $343.43.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. UBS Group set a $306.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $380.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.33.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its price target and kept a Buy rating for WDC, citing AI-driven data demand that supercharges storage pricing; this analyst lift is helping fuel buying interest. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore and other firms recently bumped WDC targets (Evercore to $378), reinforcing the narrative that hard disk drives and NAND are beneficiaries of the structural AI/memory shift. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New thematic products — including a DRAM-focused ETF — aim to funnel investor money into memory-chip makers, which should support multiples and demand expectations for WDC as a picks-and-shovels AI play. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: The SanDisk name (part of the WD franchise) is in the headlines for outperforming peers and even displacing a larger name in the Nasdaq-100, which draws attention to WDC’s consumer/brand strength in NAND. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital set its Q3 FY2026 earnings release and conference call for April 30 (after-market). Results and guidance will be the next catalyst that could amplify the current move. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative coverage (e.g., Zacks) highlights WDC’s stronger recent gains versus Seagate and notes both opportunities and execution risks — useful context but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling disclosure: insiders recently sold roughly US$16M of stock, a datapoint some investors watch as a caution on timing or valuation. Read More.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $285.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.28. The firm has a market cap of $118.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital's revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

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