Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 2.8% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Western Digital shares rose 2.8% on Monday as the stock traded higher alongside a broad rally in memory and storage names tied to the AI memory supercycle.
• Analyst sentiment remains bullish: Barclays raised its price target to $620 and Evercore ISI lifted its target to $575, both keeping positive ratings on the stock.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and also increased its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15 per share.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 2.8% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $564.14 and last traded at $546.20. Approximately 5,976,305 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 8,940,161 shares. The stock had previously closed at $531.21.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is gaining alongside a broader surge in memory and storage stocks as the AI memory supercycle drives renewed buying across the group. Micron Rises 7%, Western Digital Climbs and SanDisk Climb 4% as Memory Stocks Extend Parabolic Run
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains supportive after Barclays raised its price target to $620 from $450 and kept an Overweight rating, reinforcing the bullish earnings and supply-demand outlook. Barclays Raises its Price Target on Western Digital (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI also lifted its target to $575 from $410 and kept an Outperform rating, adding to expectations that Western Digital can continue to benefit from strong memory pricing and demand. Here’s What Evercore Now Says About Western Digital Corp (WDC) Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital highlighted its role in AI infrastructure at Computex 2026, emphasizing that AI creates persistent data demand beyond compute, which supports a favorable long-term growth narrative. WD at Computex 2026: AI Doesn't Just Run on Compute - It Runs on Data
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles framed WDC as a high-momentum stock with large year-to-date and one-year gains, but also noted that valuations and sentiment have become stretched after the run-up. SanDisk Stock Near $1,700: Two Risks That Could Break the Momentum
• Neutral Sentiment: A report noting that an investor stake was sold in Western Digital is worth watching, but it appears to be more of a portfolio-update headline than a clear operational warning. Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Leopold Aschenbrenner Is Selling This Stock

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $416.63.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $188.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $396.29 and a 200-day moving average of $281.78.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total value of $115,480.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,221,431.91. This trade represents a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 54,405 shares of company stock valued at $18,575,428 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 853.8% in the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 80.2% in the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 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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