Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 9.9% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Western Digital shares fell 9.9% in Thursday trading, despite heavy volume, as the stock dropped from a prior close of $598.37 to around $539.
• Recent analyst commentary was largely upbeat: Bank of America and JPMorgan lifted targets, Melius upgraded the stock to Strong Buy, and Cantor Fitzgerald raised its target to $900, reflecting optimism about AI-driven storage demand and pricing trends.
• The company’s latest quarterly results were strong, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue rising 45.5% year over year; Western Digital also increased its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.15.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 9.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $525.84 and last traded at $539.00. Approximately 8,884,287 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average daily volume of 9,182,466 shares. The stock had previously closed at $598.37.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Western Digital and reiterated a Buy rating, while Melius Research upgraded the stock to Strong Buy, signaling confidence in further upside. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also boosted their fair value estimate for WDC, reflecting optimism that AI-related storage demand and hard drive pricing trends could improve Western Digital’s earnings outlook. Yahoo Finance
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Western Digital as a top momentum pick for Q3 2026 and said the company has a strong history of earnings surprises, suggesting it could beat estimates again when it reports next. Zacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Articles on the broader market noted that WDC is moving with other hot memory names, with the sector still showing strong long-term momentum even after a semiconductor selloff. MarketBeat
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital has been dragged lower by a risk-off move in memory and chip stocks, as investors took profits after a sharp rally across the semiconductor sector. 247WallSt
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also pointed to weakness in many of this year’s leading stocks, including Western Digital, as part of a broader premarket decline. Yahoo Finance

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $493.52.

Western Digital Stock Down 9.9%

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $533.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $355.37. The company has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.