Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 4% Higher - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Western Digital shares rose 4% to $548.56 on Tuesday, with roughly 7.5 million shares traded. The stock’s advance reflects optimism around AI data-center expansion and stronger enterprise-storage demand.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $520.32, although targets range as high as $685 and Fox Advisors recently downgraded the stock to “equal weight.”
• Institutional investors own 92.51% of Western Digital, while insiders sold 5,093 shares worth approximately $2.75 million during the latest quarter.

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) rose 4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $559.84 and last traded at $548.56. Approximately 7,530,869 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 8,916,658 shares. The stock had previously closed at $527.22.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Western Digital to benefit from the ongoing AI data-center buildout and stronger enterprise storage demand. The company has a history of exceeding earnings estimates, while its previous quarter included guidance for higher revenue, margins and earnings. Will Western Digital Beat Estimates Again?
• Positive Sentiment: Seagate’s recently strong earnings report has improved sentiment toward the storage industry and raised hopes that Western Digital could deliver a similarly favorable result. Western Digital’s stock has also gained more than 200% year to date, reflecting substantial investor confidence in the AI-related storage cycle. Should You Buy Western Digital Before Earnings?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WDC shares. Fox Advisors cut shares of Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $560.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $189.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.75 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $568.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $411.17.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,093 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,337. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $512,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $483,977,000 after acquiring an additional 159,167 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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