The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 5,246 Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,246 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Seagate Technology were worth $13,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Seagate Technology by 3.6% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,620 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 3.7% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 3.3% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,948 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Shares of STX opened at $101.33 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $104.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.01. The company has a market capitalization of $21.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46 and a beta of 1.05. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a fifty-two week low of $76.87 and a fifty-two week high of $115.32.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.28. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 32.19% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. Seagate Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 73.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STX. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.83.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In related news, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total value of $72,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,567.40. This represents a 19.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.53, for a total value of $1,990,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 642,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,947,726.41. The trade was a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,820 shares of company stock worth $21,892,856. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.