Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $650.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price increased by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $600.00 to $650.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 87.54% from the company’s previous close.

WDC has been the topic of several other research reports. Susquehanna set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research lowered Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $586.96.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of WDC stock traded down $7.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $346.58. The company had a trading volume of 9,013,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,668,788. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $435.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $480.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $121.85 and a 52 week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 19.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gibbs Wealth Management bought a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth $567,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 19.2% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $670,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. James Investment Research Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 16.9% during the third quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 8,064 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,665,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 2.3% in the third quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $15,074,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Western Digital by 4.5% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 44,104 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $20,043,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted earnings of $4.64 per share and revenue of $4.38 billion, beating estimates of approximately $4.09–$4.11 EPS and $4.14 billion in revenue. Sales increased 55.5% year over year, supported by cloud demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and dividend article
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, well above consensus estimates. Gross margins are expected to approach 60% as pricing and product mix remain favorable. Western Digital second-quarter outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated approximately $1.38 billion in free cash flow during Q1 and increased its quarterly dividend by 16.7% to $0.175 per share. Management also cited durable storage demand from AI infrastructure, inference and robotics, with major customers planning capacity years ahead. Western Digital revenue and cash flow report
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts broadly maintained constructive ratings, but several reduced price targets after earnings. TD Cowen lowered its target to $430 while retaining a Buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive. The revisions suggest confidence in the business remains, though expectations and valuation are being reset.
• Negative Sentiment: The strong results were not enough to overcome concerns about rising capital expenditures, potential HDD supply increases, inventory levels and the eventual slowdown of pricing growth. Investors are also questioning whether AI-related demand and hyperscaler spending can remain at current levels.
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital’s stock has decreased amid a wider technology and AI-stock sell-off, encouraging profit-taking after a substantial longer-term rally. A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and was modest relative to the insider’s remaining holdings, but added a minor sentiment overhang. SEC insider sale filing

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.