Wall Street Zen Upgrades Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) to Buy

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $306.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $306.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.95.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $250.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $193.60 and a 200-day moving average of $136.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.78. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $285.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 44.67% and a net margin of 35.52%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at $97,265,422.23. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,217,779.72. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 26,816 shares of company stock worth $4,116,148 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avion Wealth raised its position in Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat and upbeat guidance — WDC reported $2.13 EPS vs. ~$1.93 consensus and revenue of $3.02B (+25% Y/Y); management guided Q3 well above Street estimates, citing strong demand from AI/data center customers. Western Digital Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turn more bullish — several firms upped ratings/targets (Wells Fargo $335, Wedbush $325, TD Cowen to $325, Morgan Stanley, Citi maintain/raise Buy calls), reflecting expectations for sustained AI-led capacity demand and margin upside. Analyst Coverage & Price Target Changes
• Positive Sentiment: Management and CEO comments highlight AI-driven storage growth — CEO Irving Tan emphasized that AI inference is generating more data and requiring more storage, supporting ongoing demand for high‑capacity HDDs and flash. Western Digital CEO: AI inference is generating more data and requiring storage hence demand growth
• Positive Sentiment: Company to outline AI storage roadmap at Feb. 3 Innovation Day — investors have an upcoming event to get product/roadmap detail, which could provide further visibility on TAM and upside. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for February 3
• Neutral Sentiment: Small quarterly dividend declared — WDC announced a $0.125 per‑share dividend (ex‑dividend Mar 5), a token yield that is unlikely to materially move the stock but may be noted by income investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Shares gave back gains after the initial rally — despite the beat and strong guide, intraday profit‑taking and repositioning pushed the stock down on elevated volume, suggesting some investors are booking gains after a rapid run. Western Digital Shares Give Up Gains After Earnings Beat, Strong Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/positioning risks — some analysts and market pieces noted WDC was overbought ahead of results; after a big run to an all‑time high, elevated expectations increase the risk of short‑term pullbacks. Overbought Ahead of Earnings

Western Digital Company Profile

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.