Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Seagate Technology reached a new 12-month high of $214.20 after Bank of America raised its price target from $170.00 to $215.00, maintaining a buy rating on the stock.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 1.4%, and has set a buyback plan of $5.00 billion to repurchase up to 21.6% of its outstanding shares.
• Seagate reported earnings of $2.59 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue increasing by 29.5% compared to the previous year.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $215.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Seagate Technology traded as high as $214.20 and last traded at $211.12, with a volume of 7395171 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $195.99.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on STX. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Seagate Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $122.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $160.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 5,905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $915,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $952,785. This represents a 49.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jay L. Geldmacher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $52,976. The trade was a 87.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 75,558 shares of company stock valued at $12,209,971. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth about $366,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 59.3% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 68,115 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $9,162,000 after purchasing an additional 25,351 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth about $69,000. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 36.4% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 49.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 4,313 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 7.7%

The firm has a market cap of $44.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.53. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $161.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.62.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 169.60%. The business's revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.54%.

Seagate Technology announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to reacquire up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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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