Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 9.9% – Time to Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price dropped 9.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $525.84 and last traded at $539.00. 8,884,287 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average daily volume of 9,182,466 shares. The stock had previously closed at $598.37.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.52.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $539.71 and its 200 day moving average is $359.19. The stock has a market cap of $185.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $512,107,000 after buying an additional 1,228,661 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.