Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 2.1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were up 2.1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $505.99 and last traded at $487.42. 5,365,288 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 9,027,056 shares. The stock had previously closed at $477.22.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Fox Advisors cut shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two investment 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.1%

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $560.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $386.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10 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 the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.