Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $582.59, but opened at $551.66. Western Digital shares last traded at $541.8390, with a volume of 969,852 shares changing hands.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is heading into its upcoming quarterly earnings report with Wall Street expecting a triple-digit increase in profit, which could support the stock if results and guidance beat expectations. Western Digital’s Quarterly Earnings Preview: What You Need to Know
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst commentary has remained constructive on Western Digital’s AI-driven storage demand and tight HDD supply, reinforcing the longer-term bull case for the stock. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Benefiting From AI-Driven Storage Demand and Tight HDD Supply Conditions
• Neutral Sentiment: Several market reports say Western Digital is being dragged lower in sympathy with other memory names, including Micron and SanDisk, after SK Hynix’s weak outlook sparked a sector-wide pullback. Why Is Western Digital Stock (WDC) Falling in Pre-Market Today, 7/13/26?
• Negative Sentiment: SK Hynix’s sharp drop and the broader memory-sector selloff are pressuring Western Digital shares, as investors worry weaker earnings forecasts could signal softer pricing and demand across the storage market. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Plunges 7% Amid SK Hynix Collapse and Memory Sector Turmoil

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.32.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $190.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $555.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $374.22.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $512,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.