Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) Stake Increased by Affinity Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Affinity Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 19.9%, acquiring an additional 1,716 shares, which brought their total ownership to 10,320 shares valued at approximately $877,000.
• Seagate Technology announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, to be paid on October 9th, representing an annualized dividend of $2.88 and a yield of 1.9%.
• Analyst ratings for Seagate Technology reflect a range of sentiments, with one analyst issuing a sell rating, six rating it as hold, and fourteen recommending it as a buy.

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 19.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,320 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,716 shares during the period. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Seagate Technology were worth $877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter worth $22,961,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,583 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 4,743 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 42,226 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,645,000 after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $2,467,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on STX. Wall Street Zen downgraded Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. BNP Paribas upgraded Seagate Technology from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $167.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Seagate Technology from $85.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "negative" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 63,418 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $7,927,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,658 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,832,250. This represents a 81.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Cannon sold 24,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.00, for a total value of $2,878,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,835 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,289,365. This trade represents a 69.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 430,270 shares of company stock valued at $53,173,431. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Seagate Technology stock opened at $154.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.30. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a fifty-two week low of $63.19 and a fifty-two week high of $158.00. The firm has a market cap of $32.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.50.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.54%.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to buy 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 stock is undervalued.

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.

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