Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 11.2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Western Digital surged 11.2% on Monday, with trading volume running above average as investors reacted to bullish company-specific news and broader strength in memory/storage stocks.
• Melius initiated coverage with a Buy rating and set a $1,050 target price, helping fuel the move higher; several other analysts have also raised targets or maintained positive views.
• AI-related demand is supporting the stock, as reports tied Western Digital’s rally to strong memory-market trends, Micron’s AI-driven results, and expectations for continued upside in AI infrastructure spending.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) was up 11.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $652.98 and last traded at $651.88. Approximately 11,200,649 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average session volume of 9,180,976 shares. The stock had previously closed at $586.45.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Melius initiated coverage on Western Digital with a Buy rating, sparking a sharp move higher as investors responded to the bullish call on the data-storage leader. Seagate (STX), Western Digital (WDC) Stocks Soar as Melius Assigns Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Recent reports say Western Digital is benefiting from a broader rally in memory and storage stocks after Micron’s strong AI memory results and large long-term AI memory contracts, which reinforced the view that demand for storage tied to AI infrastructure remains strong. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Rallies As Micron’s $100 Billion AI Deals Lift Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital was also highlighted as one of the top momentum names in AI infrastructure, with screening pieces pointing to strong earnings trends and continued upside potential into the second half of 2026. 3 AI Infrastructure Stocks Up 500%+ With More Upside in 2H 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market headlines show risk appetite remains mixed as inflation and Fed caution pressure futures, but that macro backdrop has not outweighed the company-specific catalysts for WDC today. US Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Futures Slip As Sticky Inflation Keeps Fed Cautious

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $484.04.

Western Digital Trading Up 11.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $224.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.91 and a beta of 2.13. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $518.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $345.86.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company'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 sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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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