Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 3.5% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shot up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $483.66 and last traded at $480.0860. 7,525,233 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 9,321,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $463.91.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Shares are getting a lift from the broader AI-memory supercycle trade, as investors expect accelerating demand for storage and memory products tied to data centers and AI infrastructure. Micron Rockets 11%, SanDisk Rallies 11%, Western Digital Up 3% on AI Memory Supercycle Bull Case
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Western Digital from hold to strong buy, reinforcing the bullish momentum view and suggesting further upside if earnings revisions continue improving.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts have been raising price targets on the back of strong AI storage demand, while recent earnings-related commentary has highlighted Western Digital’s improving fundamentals and momentum.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles also noted Western Digital’s share-swap plan to unwind its remaining SanDisk stake, which should simplify the company’s structure over time but is more of a strategic cleanup than an immediate earnings catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also increased its quarterly dividend by 20%, though that move is being viewed more as a capital-return update than a major driver of the stock today.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.5%

The firm has a market cap of $165.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $325.84 and a 200-day moving average of $242.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost 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 is 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.