Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on WDC. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Argus lowered their target price on Western Digital from $600.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $740.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.04.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $366.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 2.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $416.75. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $132.43 and a 1 year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital will post 23.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $885,565,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter worth $350,403,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $627,606,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 revenue of $4.38 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $4.64 and free cash flow of $1.38 billion, exceeding expectations. Management also forecast approximately $5.1 billion in fiscal second-quarter revenue and $5.80 in non-GAAP EPS, signaling continued strength in AI-related data-center storage demand. Western Digital slides as strong results fail to calm spending and sector worries
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst targets remain well above the current trading level, with Quiver Quantitative citing a six-month median target of $650. Several analysts view Western Digital as a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure expansion and rising demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives. Western Digital selloff and analyst targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital and Seagate are both benefiting from AI data-center spending. However, comparisons favor Seagate on some metrics, including return on equity, valuation and free-cash-flow generation, potentially affecting investor preference within the storage group. Seagate versus Western Digital
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending and lofty storage-sector valuations can remain sustainable. A sharp decline in Sandisk and weakness across memory and semiconductor stocks amplified pressure on WDC, even after Sandisk delivered strong results and raised guidance. Memory-sector selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly capital spending of $227 million, continued buybacks and capacity and technology-transition needs have raised concerns about cash demands and future returns. Profit-taking after WDC’s substantial earlier advance may also be contributing to the decline. Quiver also reports 110 insider sales and no insider purchases over the past six months, an additional sentiment headwind. Western Digital spending and insider activity

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.