Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

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

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $165.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.95.

Western Digital Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $85.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.78. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $193.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.62. Western Digital has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $285.42.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the fourth 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 raised its position in Western Digital by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 7.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

About Western Digital

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.