Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Key Points

• Robert W. Baird has raised Seagate Technology's price target from $120.00 to $188.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.75% from the stock's previous close.
• Seagate's latest earnings report showed $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.45, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 29.5%.
• The company has announced a $5 billion stock buyback plan, reflecting confidence in its stock value among the leadership.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $120.00 to $188.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Robert W. Baird's price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.54% from the company's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Seagate Technology in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $151.44.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 2.3%

STX stock traded down $3.59 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $153.42. 1,248,684 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,018,459. Seagate Technology has a twelve month low of $63.19 and a twelve month high of $157.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65 and a beta of 1.45.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.14. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 169.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Seagate Technology will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.47, for a total transaction of $7,662,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 485,677 shares in the company, valued at $53,167,061.19. This represents a 12.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 63,418 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $7,927,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,658 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,832,250. The trade was a 81.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 395,516 shares of company stock valued at $47,831,398. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STX. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 30.6% in the second quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 320 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 36.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 161,131 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $23,256,000 after purchasing an additional 43,224 shares during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth about $1,408,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.9% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,655 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,971,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth about $447,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.