Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 12.5% Higher - Here's Why

Key Points

• Western Digital stock jumped 12.5% on Tuesday as investors piled into chip and memory names, with the move driven more by a sector-wide rebound and AI trade sentiment than company-specific news.
• Analysts have turned increasingly upbeat on the stock, citing stronger memory pricing and AI-driven storage demand; several firms raised price targets, including JPMorgan to $650 and Bank of America to $732.
• Western Digital’s recent fundamentals were solid, with quarterly earnings and revenue both beating expectations and revenue rising 45.5% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.15 per share, though the yield remains low at 0.1%.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 12.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $553.63 and last traded at $548.39. 7,301,481 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 9,005,565 shares. The stock had previously closed at $487.42.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a sector-wide rebound in chips and memory stocks, as investors buy the dip ahead of major tech earnings and view the recent selloff as a possible entry point. Why Is Western Digital Stock Surging on Tuesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary has turned more bullish on memory pricing and AI-driven storage demand, supporting the view that Western Digital could benefit from a stronger demand backdrop and improving outlook. SanDisk Rises 8%, Western Digital Jumps 9%, Micron Adds 7% as Memory Rebound Accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related demand is being framed as a long-term catalyst for a major hardware and memory upgrade cycle, which could lift Western Digital’s growth prospects over time. AAPL, HPQ, SNDK, WDC: Gene Munster Says 'Memory Hog' AI Will Trigger a Massive 2027 Upgrade Cycle
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple market recaps note that Western Digital is moving with the broader AI trade as chip stocks rally and volatility persists, suggesting sentiment is helping the stock as much as company-specific news. Chip Stocks Surge but Software Sector Feels the Pain Again
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles also highlight that Western Digital has been heavily searched and widely discussed, reflecting heightened investor attention rather than a clear fundamental change. Investors Heavily Search Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Here is What You Need to Know

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $189.02 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74 and a beta of 2.11. The firm's 50 day moving average is $560.32 and its 200-day moving average is $388.23.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $350,403,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in Western Digital by 267.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 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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