Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) Director Jay L. Geldmacher Sells 2,500 Shares

Key Points

• Jay L. Geldmacher, a director at Seagate Technology, sold 2,500 shares at an average price of $150.50, marking an 87.66% decrease in his ownership.
• Seagate Technology's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations with $2.59 EPS and a total revenue of $2.44 billion, a year-over-year increase of 29.5%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, representing an annual yield of 1.9% and a dividend payout ratio of 42.54%.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) Director Jay L. Geldmacher sold 2,500 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.50, for a total transaction of $376,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $52,976. This trade represents a 87.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Seagate Technology Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ STX traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $148.10. The company had a trading volume of 3,471,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,017,324. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 1-year low of $63.19 and a 1-year high of $157.62. The stock has a market cap of $31.50 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $140.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.84.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.14. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 169.60% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. Seagate Technology's revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

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

Seagate Technology declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 77.0% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 3,510 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,761,534 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $238,348,000 after buying an additional 352,300 shares during the period. FIL Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $3,145,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,027,793 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $88,709,000 after acquiring an additional 300,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC increased its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 23,529 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,496 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on STX. Barclays upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $90.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Seagate Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.44.

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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