Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 1.5% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Western Digital shares rose 1.5% in midday trading, reflecting renewed investor interest in the stock as memory and AI-related themes regain momentum.
• Sentiment has been boosted by multiple catalysts, including Morgan Stanley’s forecast that memory prices could rise at least 25% from Q2 to Q3 and reports that Western Digital has revived merger talks with Kioxia.
• Wall Street remains broadly constructive, with analysts issuing mostly Buy ratings and several raising price targets, while Western Digital also posted stronger-than-expected earnings and increased its quarterly dividend.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $564.43 and last traded at $556.67. 5,359,596 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 8,989,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $548.39.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital shares jumped after Morgan Stanley reportedly forecast memory prices could rise at least 25% from Q2 to Q3, boosting optimism for stronger margins and revenue in the memory cycle. Micron, Western Digital, and Sandisk Just Jumped 12% to 14%. Here's the Forecast That Did It.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators highlighted WDC as one of the top AI-related names to buy on weakness, citing strong growth drivers and upside potential from AI storage demand. Buy 3 Top-Ranked AI Giants on the Dip Amid Short-Term Price Upside
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Western Digital revived merger talks with Kioxia have added another potential catalyst, as a combined flash-memory leader could improve scale and competitive positioning. Western Digital (WDC) Revives Kioxia Merger Talks Over Flash Memory Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles argued the AI trade is back and memory stocks are rebounding broadly, which supports WDC sentiment, but these notes were mostly thematic rather than company-specific. The Stock Market’s AI Trade Is Back With a Bang
• Neutral Sentiment: One piece noted WDC had been beaten down over the prior month and could be attractive for growth investors, but it was framed more as a valuation discussion than a fresh catalyst. Micron Technology, Sandisk, and Western Digital Are Down Big in the Past Month. Is Now the Time to Buy?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.5%

The firm has a market cap of $191.87 billion, a PE ratio of 33.23 and a beta of 2.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $561.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $390.88.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm's 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. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd 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 purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth $350,403,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Western Digital by 267.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

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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