Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 8.3% Higher – Here’s Why

28 May 2026, 23:42 by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat Gem

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) traded up 8.3% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $536.12 and last traded at $524.65. 7,502,975 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 9,031,896 shares. The stock had previously closed at $484.28.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is being viewed as a key beneficiary of surging AI infrastructure spending, with multiple reports citing stronger data-center storage demand and improving pricing conditions for memory and hard drives. Western Digital Stock Investors Need to See This
Positive Sentiment: Coverage around the “memory melt-up” continues to support the stock, as peers like Micron and SanDisk rally on the same supply-tight, AI-demand narrative that is also benefiting WDC. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
Positive Sentiment: Evercore raised its price target on Western Digital to $575 and called the stock “underappreciated,” pointing to HDD demand tied to AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
Positive Sentiment: Western Digital appointed former NVIDIA executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the company’s AI infrastructure credentials and signaling deeper alignment with the AI build-out theme. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and executed under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a strong bearish signal. SEC filing
Neutral Sentiment: Some articles note the stock has become very extended after a sharp multi-month run, which could lead to volatility even though the fundamental backdrop remains supportive. Sandisk Stock’s 4,000% Rise Is Happening Too Fast to Keep Up With

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.50.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Western Digital

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $183.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $391.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $279.27.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.99%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 53,655 shares of company stock worth $18,179,038 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 853.8% during the first quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 33.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 80.2% during the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.