Cooper Financial Group Buys Shares of 4,602 Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)

Key Points

• Cooper Financial Group has acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC, purchasing 4,602 shares valued at approximately $391,000 in the first quarter.
• Seagate Technology's recent fiscal results showed a significant year-over-year revenue increase of 29.5%, reporting $2.44 billion in revenue and $2.59 EPS, beating expectations.
• The company has initiated a $5.00 billion stock buyback program, allowing it to repurchase up to 21.6% of its stock, indicating strong confidence in its market value.

Cooper Financial Group acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,602 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $391,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 606 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Seagate Technology by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 15,247 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Seagate Technology by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,876 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its position in Seagate Technology by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,459 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Seagate Technology by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,835 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.61, for a total transaction of $261,375.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $931,946.67. This trade represents a 21.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $3,075,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 478,912 shares in the company, valued at $73,632,720. This trade represents a 4.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 430,270 shares of company stock valued at $53,173,431. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

STX stock traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $155.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,319,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,960,893. The firm has a market cap of $33.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $143.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.49. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 52-week low of $63.19 and a 52-week high of $158.00.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.14. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 169.60% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to reacquire up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $128.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $167.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $120.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $85.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $151.44.

Seagate Technology 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.