Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 4% – Time to Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price rose 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $559.84 and last traded at $548.56. Approximately 7,530,869 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 8,916,658 shares. The stock had previously closed at $527.22.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Western Digital to benefit from the ongoing AI data-center buildout and stronger enterprise storage demand. The company has a history of exceeding earnings estimates, while its previous quarter included guidance for higher revenue, margins and earnings. Will Western Digital Beat Estimates Again?
• Positive Sentiment: Seagate’s recently strong earnings report has improved sentiment toward the storage industry and raised hopes that Western Digital could deliver a similarly favorable result. Western Digital’s stock has also gained more than 200% year to date, reflecting substantial investor confidence in the AI-related storage cycle. Should You Buy Western Digital Before Earnings?

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $568.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $411.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.75 and a beta of 2.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 5,093 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,337 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Ares Financial Consulting LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 853.8% during the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.