Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Down 4.2% – Time to Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares dropped 4.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $471.32 and last traded at $497.92. Approximately 6,190,342 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 8,912,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $519.80.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand from cloud providers and AI-related data-center workloads is supporting sales of Western Digital’s high-capacity hard drives. Expectations for constrained supply could improve pricing power and margins. Why Is Western Digital Stock Surging on Wednesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Seagate’s earnings provided a favorable indication for Western Digital, reinforcing the view that AI-driven cloud-storage demand remains robust across the industry. Seagate, SK Hynix, Ford, Vertiv, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investment commentators remain constructive, with Wedbush raising its targets for Western Digital and Seagate ahead of earnings. Western Digital’s prior quarter also exceeded consensus estimates, with revenue up 45.5% year over year. Wedbush Raises the Bar for Two AI Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: The upcoming earnings report is the key near-term catalyst. Investors will assess whether AI-related demand is translating into sustained pricing, gross-margin expansion and guidance that supports current earnings expectations. Western Digital Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Negative Sentiment: The broader AI memory and storage trade has experienced a sharp reversal from its June highs. Investor concerns include elevated valuations, weaker risk appetite and competition from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies following its strong IPO. The AI Memory Trade Is Crumbling
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 808 shares worth about $428,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale reduced her position by only 0.7% and is therefore a limited signal.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on WDC. Mizuho increased their target price on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $162.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.03 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $565.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $402.35.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s 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. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

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 value of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 29,767 shares of company stock valued at $13,059,607 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ares Financial Consulting LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 853.8% in the first quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $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.