Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 2% – Time to Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price was up 2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $475.66 and last traded at $473.69. Approximately 4,990,529 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 8,587,012 shares. The stock had previously closed at $464.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $163.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $475.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $461.19.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total value of $194,918.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 111,030 shares in the company, valued at $50,096,736. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.