Seagate Technology Holdings PLC $STX Holdings Raised by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group increased its Seagate stake by 1,752.1% in the third quarter, adding about 3.55 million shares to hold 3.76 million shares valued at roughly $3.47 billion.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with 23 Buy ratings and five Hold ratings and an average price target of $1,000.88.
• Seagate beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 61% year over year; it also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.74 to $0.76 per share.

Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 1,752.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,757,206 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 3,554,342 shares during the period. Seagate Technology accounts for 3.6% of Aberdeen Group plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 1.64% of Seagate Technology worth $3,465,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 2,655.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,414,136 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,329,641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,538 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 834,705 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $805,490,000 after buying an additional 6,944 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 748,798 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $690,316,000 after buying an additional 55,404 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 3,872.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 967,528 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $378,985,000 after buying an additional 943,170 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 965,565 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $378,267,000 after buying an additional 235,359 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on STX shares. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,400.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 26th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,300.00 to $1,000.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $1,350.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,000.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total transaction of $41,239,078.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,810 shares in the company, valued at $4,543,884.80. This represents a 90.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO William Mosley sold 6,720 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.82, for a total transaction of $4,185,350.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 346,108 shares in the company, valued at $215,562,984.56. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 439,747 shares of company stock worth $349,271,735. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

Seagate Technology stock opened at $528.29 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $740.61 and a 200-day moving average of $698.15. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 52-week low of $228.61 and a 52-week high of $1,145.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75 and a beta of 2.16.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.44 by $0.24. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 252.47%. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. The business's revenue was up 61.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 37.96 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This is a positive change from Seagate Technology's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 23rd. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.97%.

Seagate Technology Profile

Seagate Technology develops and supplies data-storage products and solutions for businesses and consumers. Its portfolio includes hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives, and storage systems designed for applications ranging from personal computing to large-scale data centers. The company's products support cloud and enterprise storage, network-attached storage, video surveillance, gaming, and other uses that require digital data to be stored and accessed. Seagate also offers data-management and storage services through its Lyve platform.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding STX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.