Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 7.3% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shot up 7.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $502.64 and last traded at $487.29. 8,644,743 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 8,937,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $454.10.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI demand and tight supply are supporting storage shares. An overnight rally led by Korean memory stocks, stronger neocloud results, and reports of a deepening memory shortage are reinforcing expectations for sustained demand for Western Digital’s enterprise HDDs and NAND products. Memory stocks article
• Positive Sentiment: Improving pricing and product mix could lift profitability. Higher-capacity drives, favorable pricing, lower costs, and new ePMR products are helping expand margins. Western Digital also generated approximately $3.5 billion in fiscal 2026 free cash flow, giving investors a strong cash-generation story as AI-related demand grows. Western Digital margin article
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation support remains favorable. One updated analysis increased WDC’s estimated fair value from $584.79 to $662.13, while momentum screens identified the stock as a potential 2026 outperformer. Western Digital fair value article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, although some firms have reduced price targets or maintained neutral ratings. Investors may also be looking for evidence that fiscal 2026’s strong cash flow can continue into fiscal 2027.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million. The sale was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represents only 3.36% of his holdings, limiting its significance, but insider selling may still weigh modestly on sentiment. Execution risks during technology transitions and the possibility of weaker storage pricing or margins remain additional concerns. SEC insider transaction filing

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. Summit Insights downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Up 7.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $167.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $558.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business’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 firm earned $1.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 18.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 28.6% during the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Ares Financial Consulting LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.