Brokerages Set Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) Target Price at $118.83

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $118.83.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STX. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Seagate Technology stock opened at $89.15 on Thursday. Seagate Technology has a one year low of $79.39 and a one year high of $115.32. The company has a market cap of $18.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $96.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.20.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.34) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Seagate Technology will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 75.20%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other news, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total value of $126,558.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $804,672.90. This trade represents a 13.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.53, for a total value of $1,990,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 642,497 shares in the company, valued at $63,947,726.41. This trade represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,304 shares of company stock worth $5,656,238. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 74.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 354,013 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $38,775,000 after buying an additional 150,734 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 46,213 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,062,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at $7,112,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,778,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $197,844,000 after acquiring an additional 405,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 36.6% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 4,054 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.