Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Price Target Raised to $170.00

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $140.00 to $170.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Citigroup's target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.22% from the stock's current price.

STX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $99.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. BNP Paribas raised Seagate Technology from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Seagate Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $125.53.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 2.1%

NASDAQ:STX traded up $3.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $147.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,799,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,233,354. Seagate Technology has a 12-month low of $63.19 and a 12-month high of $152.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.86. The stock has a market cap of $31.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.29 and a beta of 1.45.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Seagate Technology's revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to purchase up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology

In related news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.66, for a total value of $2,893,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 498,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $72,143,388.60. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 599 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $77,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 10,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,342,770. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 393,791 shares of company stock valued at $47,582,998. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,908 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $1,065,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $22,961,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,326 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,704,000 after purchasing an additional 3,353 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

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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