Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $145.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Seagate Technology traded as high as $132.23 and last traded at $131.46, with a volume of 1544708 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $126.97.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Seagate Technology from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Seagate Technology from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Seagate Technology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.42.

Insider Activity

In other Seagate Technology news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total value of $1,691,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 555,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,988,047.12. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 10,446 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.71, for a total transaction of $1,135,584.66. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,333,654.28. The trade was a 45.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 335,251 shares of company stock valued at $38,760,472. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 2,200.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 2.5%

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $94.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.30. The firm has a market cap of $27.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80 and a beta of 1.40.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.15. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 14.67% and a negative return on equity of 63.48%. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Seagate Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.62%.

Seagate Technology announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.