Merit Financial Group LLC Takes $223,000 Position in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,628 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,988 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,098 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,562,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,835 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In related news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total value of $1,691,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 555,677 shares in the company, valued at $46,988,047.12. The trade was a 3.47% 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. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 3,594 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $467,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,438,320. The trade was a 24.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 393,192 shares of company stock worth $46,303,128. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on STX shares. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $119.42.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ STX traded up $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $127.27. 3,000,832 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,067,713. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $98.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.11. The stock has a market cap of $27.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 1.40. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a one year low of $63.19 and a one year high of $132.23.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.14 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 14.67% and a negative return on equity of 63.48%. The company's revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.62%.

About Seagate Technology

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.