Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 7.5% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price was up 7.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $525.15 and last traded at $515.83. Approximately 9,595,569 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 9,329,781 shares. The stock had previously closed at $480.00.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip stocks, including Western Digital, Micron, SanDisk, and Seagate, are rising in premarket trading as investors continue to bet that AI infrastructure will keep driving strong demand for storage and memory components. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A new memory-focused ETF has surged, reinforcing the market’s belief that memory chips are a key bottleneck in AI buildout and supporting sentiment for Western Digital as an AI-storage beneficiary. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several outlets highlighted Western Digital as a strong AI/storage name and a possible undervalued stock, which can help support investor confidence but does not add new fundamental information. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat flagged WDC within a broader market caution note, but the piece is more about macro risk and sector rotation than a company-specific issue. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital was called out in a “memory supercycle” pullback as traders locked in gains across the memory and storage group, suggesting recent weakness may reflect profit-taking after a huge rally rather than a new business problem. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Another report said the entire memory and storage complex sold off together, with Western Digital dropping alongside Micron and SanDisk, which points to sector-wide rotation pressure on WDC. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $170.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50 and a beta of 2.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $342.96 and its 200 day moving average is $252.65.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.