Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Bank of America from $720.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Bank of America’s price target suggests a potential upside of 119.59% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Summit Insights lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $525.00 to $470.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One research 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 data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.56.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.4%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $364.32 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $439.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.46. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $117.23 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $136.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the 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 sale, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% 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. Insiders sold a total of 24,629 shares of company stock valued at $11,033,404 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,602,927,000. ABS Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $1,226,342,000. Anther Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $885,565,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $627,606,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.