Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $1.44 Million Stock Holdings in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its stake in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC by 15.4% in Q1, owning 16,951 shares valued at approximately $1.44 million.
• Seagate Technology reported Q1 earnings of $2.59 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue rising 29.5% year-over-year to $2.44 billion.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.9%, and has also initiated a $5 billion stock buyback plan.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,951 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 3,097 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Seagate Technology were worth $1,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Elequin Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,200.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Seagate Technology from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $90.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Seagate Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.44.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Shares of STX traded down $1.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $155.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,319,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,929,370. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a one year low of $63.19 and a one year high of $158.00. The stock's 50-day moving average is $144.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.12 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.50.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 169.60% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. Analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently 42.54%.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology

In related news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 26,816 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.58, for a total value of $3,153,025.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 38,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,477,681.56. This represents a 41.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 70,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.47, for a total value of $7,662,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 485,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,167,061.19. This represents a 12.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 430,270 shares of company stock valued at $53,173,431 over the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.