Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 5.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were down 5.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $484.50 and last traded at $490.09. Approximately 5,926,347 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 8,808,392 shares. The stock had previously closed at $517.72.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Citi remains bullish on Western Digital, suggesting analysts still see upside or a favorable setup despite the recent weakness. Citi Remains Bullish on Western Digital Corporation (WDC) – Here’s Why
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is trending with investors, which can reflect renewed interest in the stock after its strong earnings and upbeat guidance from late April.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles highlight Western Digital as part of the broader AI and chip market discussion, keeping the stock on traders’ radar but without a clear company-specific catalyst. Marvell, Micron, Sandisk, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital shares fell with Micron and other memory stocks as investors sold semiconductor names during a risk-off session tied to geopolitical and macro uncertainty. Skyworks Solutions, Western Digital, and Teradyne Shares Are Falling, What You Need To Know
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note said memory and storage stocks were broadly “taking it on the chin,” with Western Digital declining alongside Micron while SanDisk held up better. Micron Sinks 6%, Western Digital Falls 5% but SanDisk Holds Steady

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $433.29.

Western Digital Stock Down 5.3%

The firm has a market cap of $168.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $431.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.90.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business 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%.Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $793,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.