Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Jumps 6.1% – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shot up 6.1% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $356.25 and last traded at $352.21. 7,787,722 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 8,646,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $332.00.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said it expects Western Digital to deliver strong quarterly results and better-than-expected guidance, despite recent worries about AI financing and competition. The firm’s analyst called Western Digital and Seagate Technology “aggressive buys,” supporting the broader rebound in storage stocks. Seagate, Western Digital stocks gain as this analyst sees 80% upside
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is viewed as an AI infrastructure beneficiary because data centers require substantial hard-drive capacity. Investor attention is rising ahead of earnings, which could validate whether AI-driven storage demand is translating into stronger results and guidance. META Earnings & 2 Other AI-Related Reports to Watch This Week
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its Seagate price target but lowered its Western Digital target to $643 from $676. The revised target still implies substantial potential upside, but the reduction suggests analysts see some uncertainty in the near-term outlook. Seagate and Western Digital Stocks Sank Last Week
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer warned that Western Digital and SanDisk could be among the most vulnerable stocks if data-center capacity expansion slows. Because recent profits and valuation enthusiasm are closely tied to AI infrastructure spending, any pullback could pressure earnings expectations and the share price. Cramer warns SanDisk and Western Digital are worst stocks if data center capacity shrinks

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Susquehanna boosted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $607.04.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.4%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $439.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $479.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 2.11.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,629 shares of company stock worth $11,033,404. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.