Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 15.8% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) traded up 15.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $538.43 and last traded at $535.0280. 1,862,114 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 8,871,471 shares. The stock had previously closed at $462.04.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory stocks, including Western Digital, SanDisk, Micron and Seagate, are rallying as improving industry fundamentals and tighter supply support expectations for stronger revenue and margins. Memory Stocks Blast Off
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s high-capacity hard drives are benefiting from growing AI-generated data and cloud-storage demand. Commentary on Seagate’s results also provided a read-through supporting demand and tighter supply for WDC. Seagate, SK Hynix, Ford, Vertiv, and More Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains supportive, with Wedbush and other firms raising or maintaining bullish targets for AI-storage suppliers. The optimism suggests the recent selloff may have outpaced deterioration in Western Digital’s underlying business. Wedbush Raises the Bar for Two AI Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s Aug. 5 earnings report is the next major catalyst. Investors will assess whether AI-related demand is translating into sustainable pricing, margins and guidance after the company’s prior quarter exceeded earnings and revenue expectations. Western Digital’s Earnings Will Test Whether Its AI Rally Has More Room
• Negative Sentiment: China-related competition remains a risk. The successful IPO of ChangXin Memory Technologies and advances in Chinese AI technology have raised concerns about future competition and the durability of the current memory-supply shortage. Micron Stock Fell on China Worries
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 808 WDC shares for roughly $428,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale reduced her position by only 0.7%, making it a limited negative signal. Cynthia Tregillis Sells Western Digital Shares

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Stock Up 14.3%

The company has a market cap of $182.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62 and a beta of 2.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $565.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $404.28.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,767 shares of company stock worth $13,059,607. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA grew its position in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.