Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Seagate shares surged: STX gapped from $764.43 to $878.91 after Zacks upgraded the stock from “hold” to “strong buy,” with shares later trading near $881.61.
• Strong results and outlook: Fiscal Q4 EPS of $5.71 and revenue of $3.63 billion beat expectations, while Q1 2027 guidance of $7.10–$7.50 EPS and $4.0–$4.2 billion in revenue exceeded analyst forecasts, driven by AI and data-center storage demand.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, but risks remain: Seagate has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $970 average price target, though its elevated valuation, leverage and substantial recent rally could increase volatility; insiders sold about $126.2 million of stock last quarter.

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $764.43, but opened at $878.91. Seagate Technology shares last traded at $881.6110, with a volume of 1,447,010 shares trading hands.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Susquehanna increased their target price on Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $750.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on Seagate Technology in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $1,600.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $970.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Seagate Technology news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 9,343 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $924.42, for a total value of $8,636,856.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 311,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,972,545.14. This trade represents a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total value of $1,200,579.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,639,736.72. This represents a 10.14% decrease in their position. 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 sold 151,069 shares of company stock worth $126,191,753 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Seagate Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fiscal Q4 beat expectations: Seagate reported adjusted EPS of $5.71 versus the $5.10 consensus, while revenue rose 48.5% year over year to $3.63 billion, exceeding the $3.50 billion estimate. The company also reported record profitability and generated $3.1 billion in fiscal-year free cash flow. Seagate fiscal fourth-quarter and fiscal-year results
• Positive Sentiment: Stronger-than-expected guidance: Seagate forecast fiscal Q1 2027 EPS of $7.10–$7.50 and revenue of $4.0–$4.2 billion, well above Wall Street estimates of $5.63 EPS and $3.7 billion in revenue. Management cited robust AI-driven demand for high-capacity data-center storage. Seagate upbeat forecast
• Positive Sentiment: AI and HAMR momentum: Continued cloud and data-center demand, together with Seagate’s Mozaic and heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technologies, is supporting higher drive capacity, pricing power, margin expansion, and operating leverage. One bullish analyst raised a price target from $1,410 to $1,624, citing faster-than-expected HAMR adoption and an improving balance sheet. Seagate HAMR analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Broad analyst support: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Cantor Fitzgerald, Rosenblatt, TD Cowen, and Wedbush raised targets or reaffirmed positive ratings. Zacks also upgraded STX from “hold” to “strong-buy.”
• Neutral Sentiment: Seagate declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, payable October 7 to shareholders of record September 24, implying an annualized yield of roughly 0.4%.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and expectations remain risks: the stock has already rallied sharply, and some commentary warns that substantial AI growth may be priced in. A high P/E and elevated leverage could amplify volatility if demand, pricing, or HAMR execution disappoints.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 124.4% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 92 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 884.2% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 187 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Avion Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 343.5% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 102 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $197.31 billion, a PE ratio of 63.45 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $895.22 and a 200-day moving average of $622.36.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 680.78% and a net margin of 26.11%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 48.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 26.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th will be given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

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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