Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Rating Reiterated by Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their hold rating on shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on STX. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.83.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

STX stock opened at $103.01 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $105.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.75. Seagate Technology has a 12 month low of $64.12 and a 12 month high of $115.32. The company has a market cap of $21.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -79.85 and a beta of 1.04.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 30.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.34) EPS. Seagate Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently -217.05%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In related news, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total value of $72,075.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,567.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Seagate Technology news, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total transaction of $72,075.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,567.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total transaction of $126,558.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at $804,672.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 218,398 shares of company stock valued at $23,238,106. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Seagate Technology by 3.6% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Seagate Technology by 3.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Seagate Technology by 1.5% in the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,620 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in Seagate Technology by 1.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 8,473 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Seagate Technology by 3.7% in the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is 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.