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

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $582.59, but opened at $551.66. Western Digital shares last traded at $541.8390, with a volume of 969,852 shares traded.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a rebound in memory and storage stocks after Monday’s sector-wide drop tied to SK Hynix volatility and broader chip-market pressure. SK Hynix ADR Soars 19% as Leveraged ETFs Launch, Lifting Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent analyst notes are bullish on WDC, with commentary citing strong demand, improving pricing, and the possibility of meaningful upside from current levels. Why Analysts Are Betting Western Digital Stock Can Gain Another 30% from Here
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming earnings report is in focus, and Wall Street is expecting a strong year-over-year profit jump, which could support the stock if results and guidance beat expectations. Western Digital’s Quarterly Earnings Preview: What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: The company has confirmed it will report fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results on August 5, keeping earnings-related speculation elevated in the near term. WD to Announce Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results on August 5, 2026
• Negative Sentiment: WDC remains sensitive to swings in the AI-memory trade, and the stock was recently hit by a sharp sector pullback sparked by SK Hynix’s weak outlook and broader chip-market jitters. SK Hynix’s record plunge drags down global chip stocks

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $194.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $560.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $379.58.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm’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, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last quarter. 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 stock. Ares Financial Consulting LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 28.6% during the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 853.8% during the first quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 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.