Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) by 74.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 354,013 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 150,734 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Seagate Technology were worth $38,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STX. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 351 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Seagate Technology by 177.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 403 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Seagate Technology by 232.5% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.82, for a total transaction of $76,365.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $667,430.10. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total value of $126,558.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at $804,672.90. This represents a 13.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,961 shares of company stock valued at $23,967,629. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.83.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 1.4 %

STX opened at $88.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11 and a beta of 1.03. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a 52 week low of $79.39 and a 52 week high of $115.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $100.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.12.

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

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is presently 75.20%.

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.