Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 9.5% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded down 9.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $195.12 and last traded at $198.53. 4,761,713 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 8,629,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $219.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Western Digital from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $170.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.65.

Western Digital Trading Down 6.1%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.96 and a 200 day moving average of $117.70. The stock has a market cap of $64.17 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 7.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,217,779.72. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,265,422.23. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. 44 Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 0.8% during the third quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,120,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.1% in the third quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 57.7% during the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 309 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.