Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $308.24 and last traded at $309.28, with a volume of 6239459 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $284.11.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC is monetizing a large portion of its remaining SanDisk stake and executing a debt-for-equity exchange that will meaningfully reduce outstanding debt and improve financial flexibility — a clear balance-sheet positive for shareholders. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital says 2026 hard-drive production is sold out as hyperscalers and AI data centers scramble for capacity, supporting revenue visibility and pricing power into 2026. That demand story is driving multiple buy/overweight analyst calls. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: WDC converted certain preferred shares, simplifying its capital structure and removing a layer of complexity that can improve free float and clarity for investors. This is a technical, constructive move for valuation. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: The SanDisk sale will raise roughly $3.17B (about 5.8M shares) and is being executed at a modest discount to SanDisk’s last close; affiliates of major banks are exchanging shares for WDC debt before the offering closes. The move is primarily a WDC balance-sheet action (SanDisk won’t receive proceeds). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Major outlets (Reuters) confirm the ~$3.17B SanDisk stake sale — corroborating reporting that this is a structured monetization tied to debt reduction rather than an operating capital raise. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider activity shows substantial insider selling (multiple officers and directors have sold shares in recent months with few/no purchases), which some investors may view as a cautionary signal on near-term insider conviction. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. China Renaissance began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $221.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.55 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $1,833,922.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,932,163.62. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $225,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $641,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656 shares during the period. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $636,000. 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.