Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 3.5% – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) traded down 3.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $407.12 and last traded at $411.96. 7,555,081 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 8,597,655 shares. The stock had previously closed at $426.94.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Summit Insights cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.8%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $485.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $456.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at $53,650,465.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.