Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 4% Following Strong Earnings

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price rose 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $559.84 and last traded at $548.56. 7,530,869 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 8,916,658 shares. The stock had previously closed at $527.22.

The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 EPS.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $3.56, above the $3.31 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion, exceeding expectations of $3.70 billion. Results benefited from strong cloud and AI-related storage demand. Western Digital Q4 Earnings Beat as Revenue Jumps 44% on Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Fiscal first-quarter 2027 guidance also exceeded consensus, with adjusted EPS of $3.85–$4.15 and revenue of $4.0–$4.2 billion. Management said AI customers are negotiating storage capacity commitments as far out as 2031, supporting long-term demand visibility. Western Digital Says AI Customers Are Already Negotiating Storage Deals Through 2031
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views were mixed. Baird raised its price target to $630 and maintained a Buy rating, while Rosenblatt lowered its target to $800 but kept Buy; Summit Insights downgraded the stock to Hold. Western Digital Earns Buy Rating as Analyst Lifts Price Target
• Negative Sentiment: The main concern was profitability. First-quarter non-GAAP gross-margin guidance of 55%–56% was viewed as insufficient relative to the stronger outlook recently delivered by rival Seagate, raising concerns that Western Digital’s margin expansion may be stabilizing. Western Digital Shares Fall as Margin Outlook Tempers Strong Q4 Results
• Negative Sentiment: The stock had already advanced sharply on the AI-storage theme, creating exceptionally high investor expectations. Analysts therefore treated the earnings report as a “beat but not enough,” with Seagate’s results setting a difficult comparison and prompting profit-taking across storage and memory stocks. Sandisk, Western Digital Drag on Chip Stocks as Lofty Expectations Eclipse Strong Earnings

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on WDC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $536.96.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,093 shares of company stock worth $2,751,337. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $221,800,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in Western Digital by 267.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Down 13.0%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $569.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $415.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96 and a beta of 2.14.

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.