Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $262.25.

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board approved an additional $4 billion share repurchase program, which supports share price by reducing float and signals management confidence. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company held Innovation Day and unveiled an AI-focused HDD/roadmap (path to 100TB+ drives and High Bandwidth Drive tech) that reinforces WDC’s role in AI data infrastructure and bolsters the long-term demand thesis. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent results and guidance showed revenue and margin strength, supporting the “memory supercycle” thesis (durable demand for high‑capacity drives), which underpins bullish analyst revisions. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms raised price targets and reiterated buys (examples: Mizuho, Rosenblatt), lifting sentiment and feeding momentum into the stock ahead of today’s pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: SanDisk (spun off from WDC) is rallying sharply and remains very volatile; the sector rotation into memory benefits WDC but also concentrates exposure to cyclical swings. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/policy moves (U.S. push to secure critical minerals) could support domestic supply chains longer term but are not an immediate stock catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares (~$5.1M), a disclosed insider sale that may have prompted short-term profit‑taking or signaled a window for selling after the recent run. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $6,211,148 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 0.8% in the third quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.4%

WDC stock opened at $260.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.80. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $296.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $202.97 and a 200 day moving average of $142.32.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

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.