Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 1.5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) rose 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $460.49 and last traded at $448.17. 7,389,750 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 8,596,557 shares. The stock had previously closed at $441.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Mizuho set a $590.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $475.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $461.19. The stock has a market cap of $163.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total transaction of $194,918.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 111,030 shares in the company, valued at $50,096,736. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 25,437 shares of company stock worth $11,461,345 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $885,565,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter worth $350,403,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.