Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $653.53, but opened at $686.78. Western Digital shares last traded at $710.2370, with a volume of 3,593,638 shares changing hands.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and lifted its price target to $650, arguing that HDD demand remains strong and Western Digital’s HAMR roadmap could support further growth. Western Digital, Seagate Stocks Keep Soaring. Why They’re Morgan Stanley’s Top Picks.
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target on Western Digital to $620 and kept an Overweight rating, adding to the bullish analyst momentum around the stock. Hard Disk Drive Market Growth Bodes Well for Western Digital (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary say AI-driven storage demand and tighter supply are improving pricing power for Western Digital and other memory/storage names. The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights SanDisk, Micron, Seagate Technology and Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market sentiment is helping, with futures moving higher on lower yields and easing geopolitical tensions, which is supporting risk appetite for high-beta tech stocks. US Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Futures Climb On Lower Yields And Easing Geopolitics
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock has also attracted momentum traders after hitting a record high, extending a sharp rally tied to upbeat earnings and stronger-than-expected revenue growth. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High on Morgan Stanley 33% PT Upgrade

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on WDC shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $450.46.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $454.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $312.52. The company has a market cap of $238.13 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51 and a beta of 2.13.

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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% 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. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 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.