Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $250.44 and last traded at $240.85, with a volume of 7113527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $236.39.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors lifted WDC after Seagate reported a strong Q2 that signaled robust demand for datacenter drives and helped re-rate storage peers. Why Western Digital Stock Soared Today
• Positive Sentiment: Same-day coverage: Benzinga highlights Seagate’s results as the proximate trigger for WDC buying, with investors rotating into peers. Western Digital Stock Rises On Seagate’s Strong Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile endorsement: Jim Cramer and other commentators pointed to persistent shortages and expect Western Digital’s upcoming quarter to be “very positive,” supporting sentiment. Jim Cramer Expects Western Digital’s Quarter to Be “Very Positive”
• Positive Sentiment: Industry supply tightness: coverage citing a DRAM/NAND “supercycle” and price strength underpins profit outlooks for Western Digital and peers. That fundamental backdrop helps justify the rally. 4 Memory Chip Stocks to Buy as Prices Skyrocket
• Positive Sentiment: New products for investors: launch of ETFs and 2x leveraged funds tied to Sandisk/Western Digital increases retail and thematic flows into the stock. Tradr Debuts Leveraged ETFs on Lumentum, Sandisk and Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst context: some research (Zacks) flags Micron as a potentially better value/ride on AI-driven memory demand, which could divert relative investor interest away from WDC. Western Digital vs. Micron: Which Data Storage Stock Has More Upside?
• Negative Sentiment: Mean-reversion risk: multiple pieces note WDC (and SanDisk) are up roughly 400% over the past year — that sharp run raises pullback and profit-taking risk despite strong fundamentals. SanDisk and Western Digital are up 400 in 1 Year. Should You Still Buy?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Wedbush increased their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.48.

Western Digital Trading Up 10.7%

The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $188.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.00, for a total value of $102,363.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 143,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,819,822. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. This trade represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock worth $4,116,148 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Diversified Enterprises LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC now owns 2,676 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 619 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,155 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, waypoint wealth counsel increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. waypoint wealth counsel now owns 2,896 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. 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.