The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Price Target to $99.00

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) had its target price lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $112.00 to $99.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on STX. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.53.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Seagate Technology stock opened at $88.87 on Friday. Seagate Technology has a 12-month low of $79.39 and a 12-month high of $115.32. The stock has a market cap of $18.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.35 and its 200-day moving average is $100.65.

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

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is presently 75.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jay L. Geldmacher sold 4,100 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $423,530.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $294,611.60. This trade represents a 58.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $76,365.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $667,430.10. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,304 shares of company stock valued at $5,656,238 over the last 90 days. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Seagate Technology during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 351 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 232.5% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.