Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Invests $1.92 Million in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has invested approximately $1.9 million in Seagate Technology by acquiring 22,582 shares during the first quarter.
• Seagate Technology recently announced a $5 billion share buyback plan, indicating that management believes the company’s shares are currently undervalued.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Seagate Technology, with estimates ranging from $165 to $188, while maintaining an overall rating of "Moderate Buy."

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 22,582 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,919,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Seagate Technology by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,055 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Seagate Technology by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,745 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Seagate Technology by 759.0% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 169,834 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $14,427,000 after purchasing an additional 150,064 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 16.4% in the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 410,871 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $34,903,000 after acquiring an additional 57,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 16.7% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 198,282 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $16,844,000 after acquiring an additional 28,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 1,725 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.00, for a total value of $248,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,052 shares in the company, valued at $1,735,488. This represents a 12.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.66, for a total transaction of $2,893,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 498,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $72,143,388.60. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 395,516 shares of company stock worth $47,831,398 in the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.44.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STX traded down $2.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $154.81. The stock had a trading volume of 3,827,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,170,483. The company has a market cap of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.50. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 12-month low of $63.19 and a 12-month high of $157.45. The company's 50 day moving average is $138.28 and its 200-day moving average is $107.69.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.45 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 169.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.54%.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

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.