Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 3.1% – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price rose 3.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $564.14 and last traded at $563.35. Approximately 6,228,829 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 6,874,163 shares. The stock had previously closed at $546.20.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital disclosed a privately negotiated exchange of convertible debt, helping reduce refinancing risk and signaling further progress in cleaning up its balance sheet. Investors appear to view the move as freeing up more flexibility for future AI-related investments. Western Digital Restructures Convertible Debt via Equity Exchange
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple recent articles highlighted Western Digital as a beneficiary of the AI storage boom, with demand for memory and data storage rising across cloud, AI, IoT, and enterprise markets. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary this week also emphasized that Western Digital’s AI storage trade still has room to run, reinforcing bullish sentiment around the stock’s long-term growth story. Western Digital: The AI Storage Trade Still Has Room To Run
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s conference appearances kept the company in view, but the headlines did not point to a major new operating update or guidance change. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Presents at 2026 Evercore Global TMT Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Several writeups said Western Digital has strong momentum and all-time highs, but one article argued the stock may already be expensive after a huge run, which tempers the near-term upside case. Up 1,000% in the Past Year, It’s Too Late to Buy Western Digital Stock
• Negative Sentiment: An insider sale by Vidyadhara K. Gubbi was disclosed, which can slightly pressure sentiment even though the sale was small relative to the insider’s remaining holdings. SEC filing for insider sale

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $424.33.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.5%

The business’s 50 day moving average is $412.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.30. The firm has a market cap of $204.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total transaction of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 120,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,259,473.07. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 37,408 shares of company stock worth $14,707,666 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth grew its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 207.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.