John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Takes $1.35 Million Position in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,888 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,350,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Elequin Capital LP bought a new position in Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of STX traded down $1.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $150.89. The stock had a trading volume of 3,125,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,798,525. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $133.01 and a 200 day moving average of $105.09. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 52 week low of $63.19 and a 52 week high of $153.88. The company has a market cap of $32.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80 and a beta of 1.45.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 17.49% and a negative return on equity of 105.02%. The company's revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 63,418 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $7,927,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,658 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,832,250. This trade represents a 81.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 26,816 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.58, for a total transaction of $3,153,025.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 38,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,477,681.56. This represents a 41.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 395,516 shares of company stock valued at $47,831,398 over the last 90 days. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on STX shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $134.38.

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.