Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Seagate Technology shares reached a new 52-week high of $233.40 following an upgrade by Morgan Stanley, which raised its price target from $168.00 to $265.00.
• Other analysts, including Cantor Fitzgerald and Bank of America, have also increased their price targets significantly, indicating strong market support with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Seagate announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, contributing to an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 42.54%.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $168.00 to $265.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Seagate Technology traded as high as $233.40 and last traded at $231.60, with a volume of 558720 shares. The stock had previously closed at $217.51.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $175.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $165.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $85.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $193.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 5,905 shares of the company's 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $952,785. This represents a 49.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider James Ci Lee sold 3,509 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.74, for a total transaction of $542,982.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,288 shares in the company, valued at $199,305.12. This represents a 73.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 75,935 shares of company stock valued at $12,289,616. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,920,792 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,607,321,000 after buying an additional 2,161,191 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $197,027,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $193,500,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 1,468.1% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 1,417,600 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $204,602,000 after buying an additional 1,327,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 3,339.4% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 933,996 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $79,343,000 after buying an additional 906,840 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $49.47 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.53. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $174.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.83.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. The company's revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.500 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.54%.

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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