Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 17,171 Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 496,784 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,171 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Seagate Technology worth $42,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 350.7% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 50,416 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $4,262,000 after buying an additional 39,231 shares during the last quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 8.2% in the first quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,751 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Seagate Technology by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 23,823 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 3,673 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 348.1% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 77,584 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,591,000 after purchasing an additional 60,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth $683,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ STX traded up $6.90 on Wednesday, reaching $151.94. 6,702,555 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,168,684. The stock has a market cap of $32.24 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96 and a beta of 1.44. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 12 month low of $63.19 and a 12 month high of $151.98. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.19.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.15. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 17.49% and a negative return on equity of 105.02%. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Seagate Technology's payout ratio is 41.62%.

Seagate Technology announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to purchase up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on STX. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Seagate Technology from $99.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $119.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Seagate Technology news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 26,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.58, for a total transaction of $3,153,025.28. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 63,418 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $7,927,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,658 shares in the company, valued at $1,832,250. The trade was a 81.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 393,791 shares of company stock valued at $47,582,998 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology 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.