Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price Up 6.6% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Seagate Technology shares jumped 6.6% on heavy trading volume, reaching as high as $841.31 after closing at $782.64 the prior session.
• Analyst sentiment turned more upbeat, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Moderate Buy” with a target of $709.13.
• Recent earnings came in well above expectations: Seagate reported $4.10 EPS versus $3.51 expected and revenue of $3.11 billion, up 44.1% year over year, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) shares rose 6.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $841.31 and last traded at $834.01. Approximately 5,839,541 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 36% from the average daily volume of 4,299,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $782.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on STX. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Seagate Technology from $530.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $500.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $450.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $565.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $525.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $709.13.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 6.6%

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 price of $476.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $369.68. The company has a market cap of $187.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.13 and a beta of 1.98.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.59. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 1,005.65% and a net margin of 21.60%.The company had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. Seagate Technology'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. Research analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 1,902 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total value of $1,464,540.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,527,650. This represents a 4.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 5,626 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $738.37, for a total value of $4,154,069.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,826,474.98. This trade represents a 32.00% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,723 shares of company stock worth $53,301,684. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,140,287 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,642,796,000 after buying an additional 442,749 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,370,805 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,587,535,000 after buying an additional 94,527 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position 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 last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,187,621,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 5.0% in the 4th 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. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.