Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $650.00 to $615.00 in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $608.26.

Western Digital Trading Up 6.1%

WDC opened at $352.21 on Friday. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $117.23 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $441.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $478.99. The company has a market cap of $131.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. 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 posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total transaction of $194,918.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 111,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,096,736. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 24,629 shares of company stock valued at $11,033,404 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $19,694,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,466,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,599,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,307,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI and data-center rebound: Western Digital was among the S&P 500’s leading gainers as enthusiasm returned to AI-related stocks. Its hard-drive and data-storage products are viewed as beneficiaries of expanding AI infrastructure and data-center demand. Sandisk, Datadog, Amazon Lead S&P 500 As AI Stocks Rebound
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment improved: A Wall Street Zen report upgraded Western Digital to “Strong-Buy,” while other recent commentary presented the company as a potential value entry and identified it as an AI-related stock with substantial analyst upside. Wall Street Zen Upgrades Western Digital to Strong-Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings are the next catalyst: Western Digital is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter results late Thursday. Investors are looking for evidence that storage demand, pricing, and AI infrastructure spending remain strong. The company previously exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations and has issued fiscal Q1 2027 EPS guidance of $3.85 to $4.15.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector-wide focus on validation: This week’s technology earnings are expected to test whether heavy AI investment is translating into sustainable revenue and profits, making Western Digital’s upcoming report particularly relevant to memory and storage stocks. This Week’s Tech Earnings Could Be a Validation Moment for the AI Trade
• Negative Sentiment: Technical risk remains: Despite the rebound, Western Digital remains below its key moving averages after a steep decline the previous week. That leaves the stock vulnerable to further volatility if Thursday’s results or outlook disappoint. Sandisk, Datadog, Amazon Lead S&P 500 As AI Stocks Rebound

Western Digital Company Profile

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.