Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Falls 1.2% – Here’s Why

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)’s stock price traded down 1.2% during trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $449.28 and last traded at $460.99. 8,210,860 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 81% from the average daily volume of 4,531,671 shares. The stock had previously closed at $466.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,300.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Seagate Technology from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird set a $1,350.00 price objective on Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Seagate Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,000.88.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 1.2%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $777.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $693.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21 and a beta of 2.16.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 61.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 37.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 23rd. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,543,884.80. The trade was a 90.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 49,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.16, for a total value of $38,595,645.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,634,952.96. This represents a 41.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 447,108 shares of company stock valued at $356,049,743 in the last ninety days. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 worth $2,329,641,000 after buying an additional 2,326,538 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 3,872.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 967,528 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $378,985,000 after acquiring an additional 943,170 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 965,565 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $378,267,000 after acquiring an additional 235,359 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 378,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,753,000 after acquiring an additional 206,196 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $183,464,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

Founded in 1979, Seagate has a long history in the hard disk drive industry.