Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 3.1% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Western Digital shares fell 3.1% on Thursday, trading as low as $564.56 after closing at $594.11, with volume below the recent average.
• The company remains supported by AI-driven storage demand, with recent commentary highlighting its HDD and storage products as benefiting from growth in data infrastructure needs.
• Despite the stock pullback, analysts have been raising price targets, including a recent Citigroup hike and several other bullish ratings, reflecting continued confidence in Western Digital’s outlook.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) shares were down 3.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $564.56 and last traded at $575.50. Approximately 6,419,210 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 8,870,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $594.11.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital continues to benefit from the AI storage theme. Coverage around Computex 2026 emphasized that AI growth depends on data infrastructure, reinforcing demand for Western Digital’s HDD and storage products. AI isn’t just a compute race. It’s a data race – and storage will decide the winners, WD shares
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital by 37%, which helped push the stock to new highs and signals stronger analyst confidence in the company’s valuation. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High as Citi Hikes PT by 37%
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted Western Digital’s new AI-focused storage technologies, including Ultrastar UltraSMR drives and post-quantum cryptography features, which support the bull case that WDC is positioned for long-term AI-driven demand. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 12.0% After Unveiling New AI‑Focused Storage Technologies
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital also presented at recent technology conferences, keeping the company in focus, but those appearances did not appear to deliver a major new near-term catalyst on their own. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Presents at 2026 Evercore Global TMT Conference Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: An insider sale by executive Vidyadhara K. Gubbi was disclosed, which can slightly weigh on sentiment even though the sale was relatively small versus the insider’s remaining holdings. SEC filing for insider sale

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $424.33.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36 and a beta of 2.13. The business's 50-day moving average is $412.26 and its 200-day moving average is $290.30.

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 (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total value of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 120,023 shares in the company, valued at $45,259,473.07. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 8,518 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total transaction of $2,174,815.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 99,276 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,347,148.32. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 37,408 shares of company stock valued at $14,707,666 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 55.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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