Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 4.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Western Digital shares rose 4.6% on heavy volume, hitting a new intraday high as investors reacted to upbeat commentary around the company’s AI and data-center storage exposure.
• Analyst sentiment has turned more bullish, with firms like JPMorgan and Barclays raising price targets and citing strong demand for enterprise HDDs, tight storage supply, and improving pricing power.
• The company recently delivered strong fundamentals, beating quarterly earnings and revenue estimates and boosting its dividend, though some analysts warn the stock may be overextended after its sharp run.

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) were up 4.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $741.85 and last traded at $712.13. Approximately 13,383,801 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 51% from the average daily volume of 8,872,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $681.08.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s latest bullish note and higher price target helped fuel the move, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is benefiting from strong demand for enterprise HDDs and AI data-center storage. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here's Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are still re-rating WDC as a key AI infrastructure play, with reports highlighting multiyear hyperscaler commitments, tight storage supply, and improving pricing power across the memory/storage sector. Hyperscaler’s Multiyear Commitment with Western Digital (WDC) Highlights Robust Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum traders are piling in after WDC’s breakout to new highs, with articles noting a strong multi-day winning streak and unusually heavy volume as AI and cloud demand expectations keep rising. Western Digital (WDC) is a Great Momentum Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary is broadly constructive, but some pieces suggest the stock may be extended after its sharp run and could see a near-term pullback if expectations get ahead of fundamentals. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $245.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52 and a beta of 2.13. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $462.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $316.21.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 directly owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $793,000. 92.51% of the stock is 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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