Zacks Research Downgrades Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) to Hold

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Seagate Technology from “strong buy” to “hold,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $986.
• Seagate reported quarterly EPS of $5.71, beating estimates of $5.10, while revenue rose 48.5% year over year to $3.63 billion. Shares opened at $913.45 and have traded between $209 and $1,145 over the past year.
• Company insiders sold 436,959 shares worth approximately $351.2 million over the past three months, including sizable sales by the CEO and an executive vice president.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

STX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $1,035.00 to $1,187.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $986.00.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Shares of STX stock opened at $913.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.81 and a beta of 2.06. Seagate Technology has a one year low of $209.00 and a one year high of $1,145.00. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $853.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $768.46.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 369.98% and a net margin of 26.11%.The firm's revenue was up 48.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 35.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other news, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,543,884.80. This represents a 90.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 97,889 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.14, for a total transaction of $75,584,012.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 378,108 shares in the company, valued at $291,952,311.12. The trade was a 20.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 436,959 shares of company stock worth $351,170,369. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Seagate Technology by 70.6% during the second quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 29 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 93 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Holdings plc is a data storage technology company that designs, manufactures and supplies solutions for storing, managing and accessing digital information. Its product portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity drives used in cloud data centers, enterprise environments, surveillance systems, network-attached storage and personal computing.

The company also offers solid-state drives (SSDs), storage systems, external storage products and related services.

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