Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Up 2.4% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Seagate Technology shares rose 2.4% on Wednesday, trading as high as $764.97 after closing at $733.35 the prior day. Volume was lighter than usual, with 2.15 million shares changing hands versus a 4.22 million average.
• Analysts have grown more bullish on the stock, with several firms sharply raising price targets, including Argus to $750 and Wells Fargo and Mizuho to $700. The consensus rating is now Moderate Buy with an average target of $733.71.
• Seagate recently reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, with EPS of $4.10 versus $3.51 expected and revenue up 44.1% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, payable July 7.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $764.97 and last traded at $751.07. 2,146,084 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 4,219,989 shares. The stock had previously closed at $733.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $450.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $485.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $565.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $450.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $733.71.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $168.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.26 and a beta of 1.98. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $541.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $401.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 1,005.65% and a net margin of 21.60%.Seagate Technology's quarterly revenue was up 44.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 24th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 8,003 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $817.28, for a total value of $6,540,691.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,691 shares in the company, valued at $3,016,580.48. This represents a 68.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP James Ci Lee sold 697 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $741.17, for a total value of $516,595.49. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $240,139.08. The trade was a 68.27% 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 sold a total of 118,283 shares of company stock valued at $65,989,618 over the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 23.1% during the first 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 last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 124.4% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 92 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 27.4% during the first quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 93 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Seagate Technology during the first quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

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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