Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Falls 1.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) were down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $516.78 and last traded at $545.14. 3,571,235 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 4,554,593 shares. The stock had previously closed at $551.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on STX shares. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $925.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Summit Insights lowered shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Seagate Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 26th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,000.88.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 1.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $125.14 billion, a PE ratio of 28.63 and a beta of 2.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $751.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $696.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.44 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.15 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 252.47%. Seagate Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 61.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 37.96 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 49,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.16, for a total transaction of $38,595,645.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,634,952.96. The trade was a 41.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total transaction of $41,239,078.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,810 shares in the company, valued at $4,543,884.80. This trade represents a 90.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 439,747 shares of company stock valued at $349,271,735. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aberdeen Group plc grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 1,752.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 3,757,206 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,465,421,000 after purchasing an additional 3,554,342 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,655.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,414,136 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,329,641,000 after buying an additional 2,326,538 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 0.8% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 834,705 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $805,490,000 after buying an additional 6,944 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Seagate Technology by 8.0% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 748,798 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $690,316,000 after buying an additional 55,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 680,926 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $628,045,000 after acquiring an additional 238,296 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology develops and supplies data-storage products and solutions for businesses and consumers. Its portfolio includes hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives, and storage systems designed for applications ranging from personal computing to large-scale data centers. The company’s products support cloud and enterprise storage, network-attached storage, video surveillance, gaming, and other uses that require digital data to be stored and accessed. Seagate also offers data-management and storage services through its Lyve platform.