Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 4.2% – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price rose 4.2% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $729.92 and last traded at $681.08. Approximately 15,729,916 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 79% from the average daily volume of 8,808,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $653.53.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Morgan Stanley and other firms raised targets and kept bullish ratings, pointing to strong HDD demand and tight supply. The Storage Squeeze: Why Western Digital Smashed Through 52-Week Highs in Blistering AI Rerating
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are re-rating Western Digital on signs of robust AI and hyperscaler storage demand, including multiyear customer commitments and sold-out inventory. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming June 22 SanDisk-related swap is being viewed as a possible near-term catalyst, adding event-driven interest to the rally. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentary warns the stock may be getting extended after its sharp run, suggesting a near-term pullback is possible even if the longer-term AI story remains intact. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.2%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $454.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $312.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth approximately $261,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 8.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,703,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in Western Digital by 6.4% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,613 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Summitry LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in Western Digital by 241.8% in the first quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,595 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,788 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.