Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $250.44 and last traded at $240.85, with a volume of 7113527 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $236.39.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $145.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.29.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $184.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $132.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 7.28%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,045,000 after purchasing an additional 186,030 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third 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. Hedge funds and other 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.