Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $125.00. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $116.79 and last traded at $116.20, with a volume of 1784096 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $106.88.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on WDC. Susquehanna upped their price target on Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.47.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total value of $654,333.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,148,052.40. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.90, for a total transaction of $28,557.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,682.50. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,730 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,594 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 52.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,838 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 9,974 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 32.0% in the first quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 897,574 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,289,000 after buying an additional 217,574 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $35,406,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 144,307 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,834,000 after purchasing an additional 6,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 89,244 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,711 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $85.30 and its 200 day moving average is $62.22. The stock has a market cap of $40.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.69.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.