Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 4.4% – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded down 4.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $456.75 and last traded at $460.93. Approximately 4,497,937 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 8,631,098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $482.28.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst view remains intact: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and raised its price target to $740, citing AI-driven storage demand that is outpacing supply. Recent analyst targets include a median of $597.50, with several targets ranging from $650 to $900. Western Digital Buy Rating Reaffirmed
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamental support: Western Digital’s latest reported quarter showed 43.8% year-over-year revenue growth, earnings above consensus and first-quarter fiscal 2027 guidance of $3.85–$4.15 per share. Bullish commentary argues that the recent correction removed speculative excess without undermining the company’s longer-term compounding potential. Western Digital The Correction Priced Out The Froth
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data provides little signal: Reported short interest was zero shares, with a zero-day days-to-cover ratio, suggesting the data may be incomplete or unreliable rather than indicating meaningful short positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: DeepSeek-driven AI concerns pressured the sector: An apparent breakthrough in AI efficiency raised questions about how much computing and storage infrastructure future AI systems may require, contributing to a selloff across storage and semiconductor equities. Western Digital Stock Slips Friday
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and trading pressures added to the decline: Rising Treasury yields and higher oil prices hurt high-growth technology shares, while weakness in Micron and Seagate highlighted a broad memory and storage selloff. Recent insider filings also show substantial selling and no reported insider purchases, creating an additional near-term overhang. Western Digital Falls as Storage Stocks Slide

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wall Street Zen cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.0%

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $452.03. The stock has a market cap of $154.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 2.13.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 111,030 shares in the company, valued at $50,096,736. The trade was a 0.39% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 112.8% during the 2nd quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $816,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 3.5% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,263 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $11,026,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 480.4% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $384,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in Western Digital by 1.3% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 24,252 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $15,490,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.