Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Down 1.7% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares fell 1.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $480.87 and last traded at $517.72. 7,205,911 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 8,833,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $526.93.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital shares are benefiting from a broader rebound in memory stocks after SK Hynix’s capacity plan lifted sentiment across the group. SanDisk Jumps 14%, Western Digital Climbs 6% as Memory Stocks Rebound on SK Hynix’s Capacity Plan
• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho and Citi raised their price targets on WDC, reflecting confidence that AI storage demand and stronger pricing can support further upside. Mizuho and Citi Raise Western Digital (WDC) Price Targets
• Positive Sentiment: Another bullish note highlighted Western Digital’s strong year-to-date run, saying the company is well positioned by AI-driven storage demand and a more focused HDD business. Western Digital Stock Skyrockets 185% YTD: Is More Growth on the Horizon?
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital also announced a privately negotiated Sandisk share exchange with investors, a corporate transaction that appears more structural than immediately earnings-driven. Western Digital Announces Sandisk Share Exchange With Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent weakness was tied to a broader market selloff after hotter-than-expected CPI data revived rate-hike concerns, pressuring semiconductor-related stocks including WDC. IPG Photonics, Western Digital, and Skyworks Solutions Shares Are Falling, What You Need To Know

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $433.29.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $182.44 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 2.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $436.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.37.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Western Digital by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is 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.