Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 11.2% – Should You Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shot up 11.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $652.98 and last traded at $651.88. Approximately 11,200,649 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 9,180,976 shares. The stock had previously closed at $586.45.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Melius initiated coverage on Western Digital with a Buy rating, sparking a sharp move higher as investors responded to the bullish call on the data-storage leader. Seagate (STX), Western Digital (WDC) Stocks Soar as Melius Assigns Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Recent reports say Western Digital is benefiting from a broader rally in memory and storage stocks after Micron’s strong AI memory results and large long-term AI memory contracts, which reinforced the view that demand for storage tied to AI infrastructure remains strong. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Rallies As Micron’s $100 Billion AI Deals Lift Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital was also highlighted as one of the top momentum names in AI infrastructure, with screening pieces pointing to strong earnings trends and continued upside potential into the second half of 2026. 3 AI Infrastructure Stocks Up 500%+ With More Upside in 2H 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market headlines show risk appetite remains mixed as inflation and Fed caution pressure futures, but that macro backdrop has not outweighed the company-specific catalysts for WDC today. US Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Futures Slip As Sticky Inflation Keeps Fed Cautious

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.04.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $518.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $345.86. The company has a market capitalization of $224.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.91 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,079,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,703,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.4% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,613 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.