Western Digital’s (WDC) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $325.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Argus set a $300.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $285.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $296.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the business’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 transaction of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $1,833,922.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at $36,932,163.62. The trade was a 4.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock valued at $17,661,708. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Western Digital by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 73,177 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,683,000 after buying an additional 2,988 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven “memory supercycle” thesis — smart money is rotating into memory names as AI infrastructure demand creates historic needs for speed and capacity, supporting WDC’s secular demand outlook. The Memory Supercycle Is Here—2 Winners From 1 Breakup
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback — WDC authorized an additional $4.0 billion share repurchase (bringing total remaining capacity to ~$4.484B), which reduces share count and signals management confidence. This is a key near-term driver for EPS accretion and sentiment. 3 Massive Buybacks That Map the Market’s Mood in 2026 (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Margin improvement — WDC reported a 46.1% gross margin in fiscal Q2 (up ~770 bps YoY and 220 bps sequentially), showing the company is capturing pricing and mix benefits from a tight supply environment. Higher margins underpin profitability and valuation expansion. What’s Supporting Western Digital’s Gross Margin Momentum?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $325 price target, providing additional broker support and implied upside from current levels. Wedbush Outperform Reaffirmation
• Positive Sentiment: Debt reduction — Western Digital completed redemption of its 2026 senior notes, tightening near-term liabilities and improving financial flexibility. That reduces refinancing risk and complements shareholder-return actions. Western Digital Completes Redemption of 2026 Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Context and momentum recap — Longer-form coverage (Forbes) highlights WDC’s ~500% multi‑year surge driven by AI demand, restructuring, and buybacks; useful for sentiment but largely descriptive rather than a fresh catalyst. What’s Behind The Incredible 500% Surge Of Western Digital Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector tailwinds — Coverage (The Motley Fool / CNBC mentions) reiterates an AI memory crunch benefiting suppliers like WDC; supports the structural bull case but is broader sector confirmation rather than company-specific news. The AI Memory Crunch Is Creating Winners and Losers. Here Are the Stocks to Buy

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.