Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $450.4583.

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $653.53 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $225.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.02 and a beta of 2.13. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $454.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $312.52. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $56.26 and a 52 week high of $658.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis 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 is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 buying 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. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and lifted its price target to $650, while other firms also turned constructive on Western Digital and the broader hard-drive/storage group. What’s Going On With The Jump In Western Digital Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are re-rating WDC on expectations that AI and cloud data-center buildouts will keep HDD and storage demand tight, supporting pricing power and margin expansion. Why Western Digital’s stock was the S&P 500’s biggest gainer on Monday
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings were stronger than expected, with revenue and EPS beating estimates and management guiding to continued profitability, reinforcing confidence in the turnaround story. Western Digital Corporation Will Hit $600 on This Date
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market sentiment was also upbeat, with risk appetite improving across AI, chip, and memory stocks, adding a sector tailwind to the move in WDC.

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.