Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives $493.52 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $508.32.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% 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. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $512,107,000 after buying an additional 1,228,661 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ WDC traded up $4.54 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $582.59. 4,801,298 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,095,433. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $64.23 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $555.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $372.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company’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 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turned more bullish on Western Digital, with reports highlighting strong AI storage demand and multiple price-target hikes, including Susquehanna’s increase to $500 and broader Wall Street optimism. Seagate Stock Rises After Analyst Upgrades To Buy. Western Digital Nabs Price-Target Hike.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent articles say WDC is benefiting from a rebound in memory and storage stocks as investors regain confidence in AI infrastructure spending and storage demand. Western Digital and Seagate Surge 7%, Micron and SanDisk Climb 6% as Memory Selloff Reverses
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other commentary continue to frame Western Digital as an AI infrastructure winner, citing strong revenue growth, margin expansion, and an improved outlook for future earnings. Micron & One AI Infrastructure Stock to Buy Now for Big Upside
• Neutral Sentiment: One item flagged an apparent short-interest update showing zero shares reported, but the data appears unusual and is unlikely to be a meaningful trading signal on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: Some valuation-focused commentary suggests the stock may be getting expensive on earnings metrics even after its strong run, which could limit upside if growth expectations cool. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings

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.