Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target increased by Citigroup to $405.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

WDC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.33.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of WDC opened at $350.16 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $285.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.28. The stock has a market cap of $118.72 billion, a PE ratio of 35.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $35.00 and a 12 month high of $351.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its price target and kept a Buy rating for WDC, citing AI-driven data demand that supercharges storage pricing; this analyst lift is helping fuel buying interest. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore and other firms recently bumped WDC targets (Evercore to $378), reinforcing the narrative that hard disk drives and NAND are beneficiaries of the structural AI/memory shift. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New thematic products — including a DRAM-focused ETF — aim to funnel investor money into memory-chip makers, which should support multiples and demand expectations for WDC as a picks-and-shovels AI play. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: The SanDisk name (part of the WD franchise) is in the headlines for outperforming peers and even displacing a larger name in the Nasdaq-100, which draws attention to WDC’s consumer/brand strength in NAND. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital set its Q3 FY2026 earnings release and conference call for April 30 (after-market). Results and guidance will be the next catalyst that could amplify the current move. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative coverage (e.g., Zacks) highlights WDC’s stronger recent gains versus Seagate and notes both opportunities and execution risks — useful context but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling disclosure: insiders recently sold roughly US$16M of stock, a datapoint some investors watch as a caution on timing or valuation. Read More.

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.