Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Western Digital shares fell 2% to $459.44 in Friday trading, with volume roughly half its average session level. The stock remains below its 50-day moving average of $554.31 but above its 200-day average of $433.12.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $534.56, despite some recent downgrades and target-price reductions.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $3.56 in EPS versus a $3.31 estimate and $3.75 billion in revenue, up 43.8% year over year. Western Digital also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, while insiders sold more than $11.4 million of stock during the last quarter.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) was down 2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $454.33 and last traded at $459.44. 4,326,401 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 8,882,770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $469.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WDC. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Fox Advisors cut shares of Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.0%

The company's 50-day moving average price is $554.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $433.12. The firm has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. 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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source