Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 2.6% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) rose 2.6% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $359.98 and last traded at $347.35. Approximately 5,321,057 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 8,655,580 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.59.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC raised its quarterly dividend nearly 17% to $0.175 per share. The increase follows strong fiscal first-quarter results, including 55% revenue growth and a 161% rise in adjusted earnings, and signals confidence in cash generation. This Data Center and Storage Stock Just Raised Its Dividend by Nearly 17%
• Positive Sentiment: WDC shares joined a rebound in memory stocks, recovering some of the pressure from the prior session’s selloff after Kioxia issued a cautious outlook. The move suggests sector sentiment improved, though remains volatile. Memory stocks rebound
• Neutral Sentiment: Cloud storage accounted for 88% of WDC revenue, with cloud sales up 54%. Strong data-center demand is a growth driver, but the high concentration also leaves results exposed to spending shifts by cloud customers. Western Digital’s 88% Cloud Revenue Share
• Neutral Sentiment: A WDC director sold 18.7% of his stake under a preset trading plan. The planned nature of the sale makes it less conclusive as a signal about the company’s outlook. Western Digital director sells stake under preset plan
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer reportedly preferred Micron over WDC, and analysts see tight AI-memory supply extending through 2028. That comparison could weigh on WDC sentiment, while Kioxia’s cautious forecast has highlighted the risk of a broader memory-sector pullback. Micron vs. Western Digital

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $900.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 23rd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.04.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.6%

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $419.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $417.37. The stock has a market cap of $130.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Western Digital by 71.4% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $147,275,000 after buying an additional 96,078 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,694,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,466,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,599,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,307,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.