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

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $493.52.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $539.00 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $539.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $360.51. The stock has a market cap of $185.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $63.67 and a 1-year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Digital will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter worth $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $350,403,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

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.