Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 2.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price rose 2.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $489.20 and last traded at $477.30. Approximately 6,303,940 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 8,673,495 shares. The stock had previously closed at $467.46.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong free cash flow supports buybacks and dividends. Western Digital entered fiscal 2027 with stronger cash generation and a net cash position, helping support continued capital returns to shareholders. This improves the stock’s income and valuation appeal while signaling balance-sheet strength. Can Western Digital’s Strong FCF Sustain Buybacks and Dividends?
• Positive Sentiment: AI is creating a potentially significant storage tailwind. Growth in AI inference, agentic AI and other data-intensive workloads could drive sustained demand for Western Digital’s storage products. Investors are evaluating whether the company can capture a larger share of this expanding market. AI Data Explosion: Can WDC Become a Bigger Storage Winner?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent operating momentum reinforces the bullish narrative. Western Digital’s latest reported results exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up sharply year over year. Management’s fiscal 2027 first-quarter EPS outlook also points to continued earnings strength.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention has increased. Western Digital has recently ranked among the most-searched stocks on Zacks, which may be contributing to trading interest, although search activity alone does not establish a fundamental change in the company’s outlook. Investors Heavily Search Western Digital Corporation

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Fox Advisors cut Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.1%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $502.34 and a 200 day moving average of $448.16. The firm has a market cap of $164.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. 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 90 days, insiders sold 23,210 shares of company stock worth $10,440,960. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $125,440,000. Range Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $369,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 37.8% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 175 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Formuepleje A S bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $1,505,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 73.4% during the second quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.