Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 11.1% – Here’s Why

05 Jun 2026, 21:17 by Tristan Rich · The Markets Daily

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) shares traded down 11.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $511.33 and last traded at $511.72. Approximately 7,680,613 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 8,858,326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $575.50.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from strong investor enthusiasm around AI-driven storage demand, with recent articles highlighting new AI-focused storage technologies, improved analyst valuation estimates, and expectations for firmer HDD and memory pricing. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 12.0% After Unveiling New AI‑Focused Storage Technologies
Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital by 37%, helping push the stock to fresh highs as investors positioned ahead of the company’s Computex-related AI announcements. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High as Citi Hikes PT by 37%
Positive Sentiment: The company has also been cleaning up its balance sheet and making more AI-related moves, which some investors view as supporting additional upside. Western Digital Could Be Halfway Through Retiring 2028 Convertible Debt. What It Means for the Stock.
Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent earnings were strong, with the company beating estimates and issuing upbeat guidance, but the stock still saw a short-term dip as some traders appeared to take profits after a big run. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips 3% Despite Strong Earnings—Should Investors Buy the Pullback?
Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes that the broader market and semiconductor stocks have been choppy, with Broadcom’s cautious AI outlook pressuring memory names like Western Digital even after the company’s strong news flow. MU, SNDK, WDC: Memory Stocks Dip As Broadcom’s Forecast Dampens AI Sentiment, Retail Turns Buyer
Negative Sentiment: One near-term headwind is profit-taking after Western Digital’s rapid run-up to all-time highs, which has led to some price weakness despite the longer-term bullish narrative. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WDC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $424.33.

Read Our Latest Report on Western Digital

Western Digital Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $176.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 2.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $417.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $293.25.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total value of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 120,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,259,473.07. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 28,890 shares of company stock worth $12,532,851 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.