Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Grows Position in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 183,600 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 43,400 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned about 0.09% of Seagate Technology worth $15,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,974,117 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,414,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814,821 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in Seagate Technology by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 16,530,152 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,426,717,000 after acquiring an additional 162,561 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 56.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,621,162 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,348,262,000 after buying an additional 5,640,443 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,295,225 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $370,013,000 after acquiring an additional 132,713 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,761,534 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $238,348,000 after buying an additional 352,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STX. Wall Street Zen raised Seagate Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $99.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $105.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $118.89.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of STX stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $117.34. 4,090,122 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,990,548. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a 12 month low of $63.19 and a 12 month high of $118.86. The stock has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.45 and a beta of 1.32. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $88.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.97.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.62%.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 10,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.71, for a total value of $1,135,584.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,333,654.28. This represents a 45.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 70,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.47, for a total transaction of $7,662,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 485,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $53,167,061.19. This trade represents a 12.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 106,856 shares of company stock valued at $11,202,861 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

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.