Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Jumps 2.5% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Seagate shares rose 2.5% to $945.57 in midday trading, despite volume running 43% below the average session level.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with 22 Buy ratings and five Holds producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $986.
• Seagate exceeded quarterly expectations with $5.71 in EPS and $3.63 billion in revenue, while declaring a $0.74 quarterly dividend; insiders have sold approximately $351.2 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 2.5% on Thursday. The company traded as high as $946.36 and last traded at $945.57. 2,463,377 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 4,301,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $922.34.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on STX. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Monday, September 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,100.00 to $1,180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on Seagate Technology from $875.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $1,095.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $986.00.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $215.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.12 and a beta of 2.06. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $854.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $772.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 369.98% and a net margin of 26.11%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 48.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 35.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 24th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Seagate Technology's payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total transaction of $41,239,078.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,543,884.80. The trade was a 90.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 97,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.14, for a total value of $75,584,012.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 378,108 shares in the company, valued at $291,952,311.12. This trade represents a 20.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 436,959 shares of company stock valued at $351,170,369. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Seagate Technology by 85.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 22,046 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $8,637,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190 shares during the period. UNICOM Systems Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. now owns 43,500 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $41,978,000 after buying an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,328,000. Financial Insights Inc. acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at $706,000. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Seagate Technology by 590.3% in the second quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,774 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,712,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Holdings plc is a data storage technology company that designs, manufactures and supplies solutions for storing, managing and accessing digital information. Its product portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity drives used in cloud data centers, enterprise environments, surveillance systems, network-attached storage and personal computing.

The company also offers solid-state drives (SSDs), storage systems, external storage products and related services.

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