Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Reaches New 52-Week High - Here's Why

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $119.35 and last traded at $119.25, with a volume of 1243941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on STX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Seagate Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $105.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $118.89.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 3.6%

The business's 50 day simple moving average is $91.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.74. The stock has a market cap of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 1.32.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.14 billion. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 63.48% and a net margin of 14.67%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.62%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.27, for a total value of $6,013,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 515,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $62,020,472.79. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 4,201 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total transaction of $483,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,885. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 233,641 shares of company stock valued at $26,252,721. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,621,162 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,348,262,000 after buying an additional 5,640,443 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 12.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,920,792 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,607,321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,191 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,974,117 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,414,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814,821 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 3,339.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 933,996 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $79,343,000 after purchasing an additional 906,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $77,341,000. 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.