Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $151.4444.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on STX shares. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Seagate Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Insider Activity

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 63,418 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $7,927,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,658 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,832,250. The trade was a 81.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 26,816 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.58, for a total transaction of $3,153,025.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 38,082 shares in the company, valued at $4,477,681.56. This represents a 41.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 430,270 shares of company stock valued at $53,173,431 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STX. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth $29,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STX opened at $155.73 on Friday. Seagate Technology has a 1 year low of $63.19 and a 1 year high of $158.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.12 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.50.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Seagate Technology will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Seagate Technology's payout ratio is currently 42.54%.

About Seagate Technology

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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