Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 1.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $477.28 and last traded at $469.05. 5,081,572 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 8,913,486 shares. The stock had previously closed at $462.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $552.24 and a 200 day moving average of $433.31.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Three Seasons Wealth LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 16.8% in the second quarter. Three Seasons Wealth LLC now owns 7,062 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. SMART Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 8,197 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the period. NWF Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $375,000. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 17,668 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,585,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.