Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Western Digital's stock reached a new 12-month high after Rosenblatt Securities upgraded its price target from $90.00 to $125.00, maintaining a buy rating.
• Analysts show strong sentiment towards Western Digital, with multiple upgrades leading to an average price target of $91.47 and17 buy ratings from analysts.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $125.00. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $116.79 and last traded at $116.20, with a volume of 1784096 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $106.88.

WDC has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $87.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research cut Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $91.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 3,160 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $239,148.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,388,460.80. The trade was a 9.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 151,596 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,687,602.84. The trade was a 6.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,730 shares of company stock worth $3,921,594. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,736,003,000 after acquiring an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $593,045,000 after purchasing an additional 186,030 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 8.5% in the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 130.0% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $203,337,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 17.1% in the second quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $239,022,000 after purchasing an additional 545,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $40.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.71.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%.Western Digital's revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.

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