Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 8.8% – Should You Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price was down 8.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $496.50 and last traded at $513.84. 7,842,268 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 9,022,083 shares. The stock had previously closed at $563.32.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to highlight Western Digital as a potential beneficiary of AI-driven storage demand, with strong revenue growth, expanding margins, and earnings momentum supporting a bullish longer-term view. Everyone’s Buying NVIDIA, but 2 Smaller AI Stocks Could Soar Higher
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says Western Digital remains well-positioned in the “AI memory war,” with mostly Buy ratings from Wall Street and further upside implied by analyst price targets. Which Storage Stock Is Best Positioned to Win the AI Memory War?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor sentiment across tech remains resilient overall, but fears of an AI bubble are keeping volatility high and making high-momentum chip stocks more sensitive to profit-taking. Investors Can’t Shake AI Bubble Fears—But They’re Not Dropping Their Favorite Tech Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital was included in a broader semiconductor/memory selloff, with traders trimming exposure after a strong rally and reassessing how durable AI-driven chip gains will be. Nasdaq Slips as Chip Stocks Come Under Pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Another catalyst weighing on the stock is sector anxiety tied to a new Chinese memory competitor’s IPO filing, which has intensified concerns about future pricing and competition in the memory market. Why Is Western Digital Stock Falling on Thursday?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.32.

Western Digital Trading Down 9.2%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $560.95 and a 200 day moving average of $383.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $512,107,000 after buying an additional 1,228,661 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $483,977,000 after acquiring an additional 159,167 shares during the period. 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.