LPL Financial LLC Raises Holdings in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 16.7%, now owning 198,282 shares valued at approximately $16.84 million.
• Seagate Technology reported $2.59 earnings per share, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenue up 29.5% year-over-year.
• The company has initiated a $5.00 billion share buyback plan, indicating management's belief that its stock is undervalued.

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 16.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,282 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 28,364 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Seagate Technology worth $16,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in STX. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Seagate Technology by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 606 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,876 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,459 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 31.0% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 786 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $122.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 5,905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $915,275.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $952,785. The trade was a 49.00% 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, insider James Ci Lee sold 1,116 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.36, for a total value of $171,149.76. Following the sale, the insider owned 257 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,413.52. This trade represents a 81.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 428,546 shares of company stock valued at $52,912,056 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:STX traded up $0.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $148.10. The company had a trading volume of 3,471,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,017,324. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 12 month low of $63.19 and a 12 month high of $157.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $141.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 42.54%.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.