Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 3.8% on Analyst Downgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) fell 3.8% during trading on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $800.00 to $740.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as low as $422.50 and last traded at $434.30. Approximately 11,533,865 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 28% from the average daily volume of 8,984,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $451.52.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,093 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,337. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q4 adjusted earnings of $3.56 per share on $3.75 billion in revenue, exceeding analyst estimates of $3.31 and $3.70 billion, respectively. Revenue increased 43.8% year over year, supported by AI-related cloud storage demand. Western Digital Stock Falls Despite Beating Earnings Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management projected fiscal Q1 2027 revenue of $4.0 billion to $4.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.85 to $4.15, both above consensus expectations. The company also cited pricing gains, higher-capacity products, and AI customers negotiating storage capacity through 2031, improving long-term demand visibility. WDC Q4 Earnings Call Highlights AI Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive. Baird assigned a Buy rating with a $630 price target, while the median target from 15 analysts is reported at $575, suggesting potential upside if growth and margins continue to improve. Analyst Assigns Buy Rating and Raises Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s decline reflects profit-taking after a substantial prior rally. Traders are also watching technical support levels and whether recent lows can stabilize.
• Negative Sentiment: Fiscal Q1 gross-margin guidance of 55% to 56%—a 55.5% midpoint—was viewed as insufficient relative to very high expectations and stronger margin performance from rival Seagate Technology. This raised concerns that Western Digital’s margin expansion may be moderating. Western Digital Slumps Despite Q2 Beat
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are rotating within semiconductor holdings toward AI networking leaders and away from traditional memory and storage names. In addition, reported insider activity shows 129 sales and no purchases over the past six months, which may weigh on sentiment, although such sales can reflect scheduled transactions.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $149.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $567.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $417.23.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 50.22%. The business’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 firm earned $1.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 17.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

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.