Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Down 16.3% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Seagate shares fell 16.3% to $466.53 on Thursday, with trading volume more than double its average.
• The company beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $7.68 versus $7.44 expected and revenue of $4.23 billion, up 61% year over year.
• Analysts’ consensus rating remains “Moderate Buy”, with an average price target of $1,000.88; Seagate also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.76 per share.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 16.3% on Thursday. The company traded as low as $461.11 and last traded at $466.53. 9,573,104 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 112% from the average daily volume of 4,511,013 shares. The stock had previously closed at $557.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on STX. Robert W. Baird set a $1,350.00 price target on Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Monday. Summit Insights lowered Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Seagate Technology from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Seagate Technology currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,000.88.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 16.3%

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 $107.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50 and a beta of 2.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $784.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $692.44.

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

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Seagate Technology's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 23rd. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William Mosley sold 6,720 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $215,562,984.56. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 49,984 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.16, for a total transaction of $38,595,645.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,634,952.96. This trade represents a 41.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 469,319 shares of company stock valued at $373,883,846. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Seagate Technology by 2,655.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,414,136 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,329,641,000 after buying an additional 2,326,538 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 0.8% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 834,705 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $805,490,000 after buying an additional 6,944 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 3,872.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 967,528 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $378,985,000 after acquiring an additional 943,170 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 965,565 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $378,267,000 after acquiring an additional 235,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 639,400 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $250,491,000 after acquiring an additional 55,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc NASDAQ: STX is a data storage company that develops and manufactures mass-capacity storage products and solutions. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs) used in cloud data centers, enterprise systems, network-attached storage, video and imaging applications, and personal computers.

The company also provides storage-related services and solutions designed to help organizations store, manage, protect, and access large volumes of digital information.

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