Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 3.7% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price shot up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $474.54 and last traded at $464.60. Approximately 8,376,846 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average daily volume of 8,606,659 shares. The stock had previously closed at $448.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Mizuho set a $590.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $158.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 2.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $474.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $462.70.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock worth $11,461,345. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $885,565,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.