Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $436.00 and last traded at $427.1360, with a volume of 1006494 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $390.99.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat Q3 estimates (EPS $2.72 vs. ~ $2.34–2.41) and reported revenue growth of ~45%, with conference materials and a slide deck available — results underpin the rally and justify re-rating on stronger profitability. MarketBeat Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Management guided Q4 EPS to $3.10–3.40 and revenue roughly $3.6–3.8B, above consensus — signaling sustained pricing power from enterprise AI storage demand. Reuters: WDC forecasts revenue above estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Peer signals: SanDisk and Seagate also flagged strong AI-related demand and higher revenue outlooks, giving sector-level validation that hyperscaler capex is driving near-term HDD/SSD consumption. Reuters: SanDisk joins peers signaling AI demand
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum from Seagate’s blowout results lifted investor appetite for WDC ahead of and after the print — reinforcing a near-term “picks-and-shovels” trade into storage suppliers. 247WallSt: HDD trade lifts WDC & STX
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive (some raised price targets; institutional notes like Bank of America were bullish), but consensus estimates were elevated into the print — meaning future upside depends on execution and whether demand stays strong. Barchart: Analysts bullish ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upbeat guidance, some traders sold into the news — headlines and TV coverage called it a “buy the rumor, sell the news” episode after WDC’s large prior gains, producing intraday pullbacks. MarketWatch: Stock slides despite earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Several outlets noted late-day slips and profit-taking after the print; elevated valuation and very large short- and long-term moves increase volatility risk for investors entering new positions now. Yahoo Finance: Stock slips late despite beat

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.00.

Western Digital Trading Up 5.3%

The company has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $314.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total transaction of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 120,023 shares in the company, valued at $45,259,473.07. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total transaction of $2,174,815.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 99,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,347,148.32. This trade represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 92,711 shares of company stock worth $24,300,404. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Western Digital

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.