Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Hits New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $152.83 and last traded at $152.76, with a volume of 4018764 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $146.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on STX shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $85.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.68.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $32.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 1.45. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $132.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.65.

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

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 25th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.62%.

Seagate Technology declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.66, for a total value of $2,893,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 498,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,143,388.60. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stephanie Tilenius sold 2,693 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.04, for a total value of $344,811.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,567,721.76. This represents a 18.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 395,516 shares of company stock worth $47,831,398 over the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STX. Salvus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,416 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 4,625 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 28.1% during the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 419 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 457 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 606 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

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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