Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 3.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Western Digital shares rose 3.4% after Susquehanna raised its price target to $500 from $360, even though the firm kept a neutral rating. The stock traded as high as $562.76 and closed at $550.30.
• Recent analyst sentiment has been broadly positive, with multiple firms lifting targets and assigning Buy or Overweight ratings. MarketBeat says the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average target price of $502.12.
• The company continues to benefit from strong operating results and AI/storage demand trends, having recently beaten earnings and revenue estimates. However, insiders have sold shares recently, and the stock has also faced some sector-wide memory-chip volatility.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 3.4% during trading on Wednesday after Susquehanna raised their price target on the stock from $360.00 to $500.00. Susquehanna currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $562.76 and last traded at $550.30. Approximately 6,818,683 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 9,142,857 shares. The stock had previously closed at $532.10.

WDC has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $502.12.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% 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 sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and traders remain constructive on Western Digital’s AI storage demand story, pointing to upgraded price targets, repeated earnings beats, and strong revenue growth tied to the NAND/HDD upgrade cycle. Western Digital Stock (WDC) Opinions on Analyst Upgrades Amid AI Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital has outperformed the storage industry over the past year, with shares up sharply on expectations that AI infrastructure and data-center storage demand will keep benefiting the business. WDC Stock Outshines Industry Returns in a Year: Should You Jump In?
• Positive Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its price target on WDC to $500 from $360, reinforcing the view that the stock still has upside despite recent volatility. Western Digital Stock Drops 8.5%: Why Samsung’s Profit Surge Triggered a Tech Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Some market commentary suggests the memory sector may be in a short-term reset rather than a fundamental breakdown, with tight supply and margin strength still supporting the industry outlook. Flash Crash or Cash? The AI Hardware Reset Investors Can’t Ignore (WDC)
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital was caught in a broader memory-chip selloff after Samsung’s results triggered profit-taking across the AI and storage trade, pressuring WDC alongside Micron and SanDisk. Micron, SanDisk, and Western Digital Sink 7% as Samsung Earnings Spark a Memory Selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs recently downgraded WDC to Hold, and Susquehanna’s higher target still implied downside from the current share price in that note, adding to near-term caution. Western Digital (WDC) Gets a Hold from Goldman Sachs

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,270,000. WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $793,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $189.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $545.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $365.92.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 currently 3.58%.

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.