Seagate Technology’s (STX) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark restated their hold rating on shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on STX. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.83.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 8.1 %

STX opened at $103.52 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $105.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.55. The company has a market cap of $21.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.22 and a beta of 1.04. Seagate Technology has a 52-week low of $64.12 and a 52-week high of $115.32.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.28. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 5.11% and a negative return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.34) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. This is an increase from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 181.82%.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $535,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,590. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $535,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total value of $72,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,567.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 214,298 shares of company stock valued at $22,814,576 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $2,303,274,000 after purchasing an additional 746,395 shares during the last quarter. Delta Global Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,478,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,349,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 14.5% in the first 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 last quarter. Finally, Duquesne Family Office LLC grew its position in Seagate Technology by 22.0% in the second quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,755,278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $181,268,000 after acquiring an additional 316,295 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

About Seagate Technology

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.