Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 4.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price traded up 4.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday 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 $121.94 and last traded at $121.55. 2,089,686 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 7,989,126 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.74.

WDC has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on Western Digital from $123.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Western Digital from $87.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,121,547.78. This trade represents a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,730 shares of company stock worth $3,921,594. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,864 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 4,324 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 879.4% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,045 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 3,632 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3,470.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 253,294 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $10,241,000 after buying an additional 246,199 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 674,874 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,285,000 after buying an additional 46,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 6.6% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,230,000 after buying an additional 4,932 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.8%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.36 and its 200 day moving average is $62.62. The stock has a market cap of $41.89 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.