Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

Several other research firms also recently commented on STX. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $119.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.94.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

Shares of STX opened at $112.45 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.96. The company has a market capitalization of $23.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.02 and a beta of 1.04. Seagate Technology has a 1-year low of $64.12 and a 1-year high of $115.32.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The data storage provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 5.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.29) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is 181.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.46, for a total value of $1,869,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 654,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,148,074.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Seagate Technology news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 25,760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.54, for a total value of $2,435,350.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,974,694.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.46, for a total value of $1,869,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 654,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,148,074.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 223,284 shares of company stock valued at $23,800,887. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,753,076 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,303,274,000 after purchasing an additional 746,395 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Seagate Technology by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,656,828 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $247,218,000 after acquiring an additional 337,464 shares during the period. Duquesne Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,755,278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $181,268,000 after acquiring an additional 316,295 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 0.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,019,657 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $105,306,000 after acquiring an additional 9,062 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 6.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 688,996 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,130,000 after purchasing an additional 40,100 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc provides data storage technology and solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, and internationally. It provides mass capacity storage products, including enterprise nearline hard disk drives (HDDs), enterprise nearline solid state drives (SSDs), enterprise nearline systems, video and image HDDs, and network-attached storage drives.