Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were down 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $281.68 and last traded at $284.67. Approximately 10,308,373 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 10,704,614 shares. The stock had previously closed at $296.56.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Big balance-sheet move — WDC is monetizing most of its remaining SanDisk stake via a secondary offering and a debt-for-equity exchange that should cut debt and improve financial flexibility, a clear deleveraging positive for the company. Western Digital to sell $3.17 billion stake in Sandisk
• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand outlook — Western Digital says 2026 hard-drive production is sold out as AI hyperscalers scramble for capacity, supporting revenue visibility and pricing power in enterprise/A.I. storage. Western Digital Sold Out All 2026 Hard Drive Production as AI Centers Scramble
• Positive Sentiment: Capital-structure simplification — WDC converted Series A convertible preferred shares, removing complexity from the cap table and reducing potential future dilution risk. Western Digital Converts Preferred Shares, Simplifying Capital Structure
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail/consumer promo — a deep-discount on a 16TB Elements external drive is consumer-facing news but is unlikely to move enterprise-focused revenue drivers materially. WD’s 16TB Elements External Hard Drive Delivers Maximum Storage at Minimum Cost
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy insider selling — disclosures show numerous insider sales (multiple executives) over recent months, which can raise concern about near-term sentiment even if sales were for diversification. Western Digital climbs as Sandisk stake sale boosts debt-reduction outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Sale priced at a modest discount — some reporting notes the SanDisk block was sold at a discount to the prior close, which can pressure near-term pricing and signal urgency to monetize. Sandisk (SNDK) Stock: Western Digital Dumps $3.17 Billion Position at a Discount
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation / profit-taking risk — after a large YTD rally, analysts and media flagged valuation checks, so some of today’s downside likely reflects re-rating or investors taking profits. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check After Multi Period Share Price Surge

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Down 4.0%

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $223.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $1,833,922.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,932,163.62. The trade was a 4.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $221,800,000. Hedge funds and other 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.