Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Western Digital shares jumped sharply before trading, opening well above the prior close and continuing a strong rally that has pushed the stock to record highs.
• Recent analyst commentary has been increasingly bullish, with firms like Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Citigroup, and Mizuho raising price targets or maintaining Overweight/Buy ratings on the back of strong HDD demand and AI-related storage growth.
• The company also reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue in its latest quarter, while increasing its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15 per share and signaling continued growth in fiscal 2026 guidance.

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $653.53, but opened at $686.78. Western Digital shares last traded at $710.2370, with a volume of 3,593,638 shares trading hands.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and lifted its price target to $650, arguing that HDD demand remains strong and Western Digital’s HAMR roadmap could support further growth. Western Digital, Seagate Stocks Keep Soaring. Why They're Morgan Stanley's Top Picks.
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target on Western Digital to $620 and kept an Overweight rating, adding to the bullish analyst momentum around the stock. Hard Disk Drive Market Growth Bodes Well for Western Digital (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary say AI-driven storage demand and tighter supply are improving pricing power for Western Digital and other memory/storage names. The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights SanDisk, Micron, Seagate Technology and Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market sentiment is helping, with futures moving higher on lower yields and easing geopolitical tensions, which is supporting risk appetite for high-beta tech stocks. US Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Futures Climb On Lower Yields And Easing Geopolitics
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock has also attracted momentum traders after hitting a record high, extending a sharp rally tied to upbeat earnings and stronger-than-expected revenue growth. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High on Morgan Stanley 33% PT Upgrade

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $450.46.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $454.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $312.52. The company has a market capitalization of $238.13 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital's quarterly revenue 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $350,403,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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