Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Seagate Technology shares gapped down after Fox Advisors downgraded the stock from overweight to equal weight, with the shares opening well below the prior close before partially recovering intraday.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally constructive despite the downgrade: multiple firms have recently raised price targets, and MarketBeat data shows a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $831.79.
• Seagate posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share payable on July 7.

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Fox Advisors downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating. The stock had previously closed at $1,094.04, but opened at $984.26. Seagate Technology shares last traded at $1,015.8370, with a volume of 847,614 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on STX. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $500.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $700.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $385.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $767.00 to $1,035.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Seagate Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $831.79.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 989 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $870,507.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,776,015.10. The trade was a 18.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,364 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $1,200,579.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 12,088 shares in the company, valued at $10,639,736.72. The trade was a 10.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 141,069 shares of company stock valued at $107,161,712 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,370,805 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,587,535,000 after purchasing an additional 94,527 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,317,516 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,464,391,000 after buying an additional 258,151 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,896,815 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,343,683,000 after buying an additional 234,436 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,193,063 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $879,338,000 after buying an additional 243,551 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 1,510.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,008,516 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $553,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 6.6%

The business's 50-day simple moving average is $781.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $510.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.47 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.59. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 1,005.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 44.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 24th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.08%.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology NASDAQ: STX is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm's product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.

Seagate's products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.

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