Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Jumps 4.7% – Should You Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares traded up 4.7% during trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $354.98 and last traded at $347.6710. 1,599,953 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 8,609,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $332.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $525.00 to $470.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $650.00 to $615.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $608.26.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $442.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $478.41. The firm has a market cap of $133.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total value of $194,918.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 111,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,096,736. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345. 0.20% 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. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $1,602,927,000. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,226,342,000. Anther Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $885,565,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $627,606,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.