Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Trading Down 2.5% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Insider selling drove a 2.5% intraday drop after multiple insiders — EVP James Ci Lee (697 shares, ~$516k), EVP John Christopher Morris (5,626 shares, ~$4.15M) and director Stephanie Tilenius (1,580 shares, ~$1.21M) — sold stock under pre‑arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plans.
• Strong results and upgrades: Seagate beat Q expectations (EPS $4.10 vs. $3.51; revenue $3.11B), set Q4 2026 EPS guidance of 4.80–5.20, and saw several brokers raise price targets (e.g., Cantor to $1,000, JPMorgan to $775), leaving a consensus "Moderate Buy" and target of $709.13.
• Valuation risk: The stock's rally has left valuation elevated (market cap ~$171.9B; P/E ~72.7), increasing the risk of sharper pullbacks if growth or momentum falters.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 2.5% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $742.01 and last traded at $766.44. 4,557,181 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 4,271,718 shares. The stock had previously closed at $786.42.

Specifically, EVP James Ci Lee sold 697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $741.17, for a total transaction of $516,595.49. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $240,139.08. The trade was a 68.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 5,626 shares of the business's 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 of the company's stock, valued at $8,826,474.98. The trade was a 32.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In related news, Director Stephanie Tilenius sold 1,580 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.61, for a total transaction of $1,211,243.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,175,129.04. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on STX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $525.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research raised Seagate Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $700.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $565.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $700.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $709.13.

Key Seagate Technology News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named STX a "Top Pick," raising its price target to $767 and keeping an Overweight rating — a high‑profile vote of confidence that supports the AI/data‑center growth story and helped re‑rate the stock. Morgan Stanley Calls Seagate Technology Holdings (STX) a “Top Pick”
• Positive Sentiment: Seagate launched an AI‑focused storage suite (consumer and professional drives up to 256TB, Thunderbolt 5 support) aimed at content creators and AI workflows — this product push reinforces revenue mix improvement and higher ASP potential. Seagate’s New AI Storage Suite Meets Rapidly Rising STX Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Macro sentiment is improving (VIX sliding), which favors tech/cyclical names and likely helped momentum flows into STX during the recent rally. CBOE VIX Slides Toward 17 as Oil Retreat and Tech Stock Surge Restore Risk Appetite
• Neutral Sentiment: Seagate reported strong quarterly results and raised FY guidance (Q4 2026 EPS guidance 4.80–5.20), providing fundamental support but already priced into shares. Company Earnings / Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑time Lead Independent Director Mike Cannon plans to retire in Oct‑2026 — orderly governance change with limited near‑term operational impact. Seagate Announces the Retirement of Michael R. Cannon
• Neutral Sentiment: Seagate declared a quarterly dividend (annualized $2.96, ~0.4% yield) — supportive for income investors but small relative to current valuation. Dividend Disclosure
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders (EVPs and a director) sold shares in early May under pre‑arranged 10b5‑1 plans — sizable dispositions that can create short‑term headline risk and feed profit‑taking narratives. Insider Selling Filings
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is elevated (high P/E and large market cap after the rally), increasing the risk of sharper pullbacks if growth expectations moderate. Valuation / Metrics

Seagate Technology Trading Down 2.5%

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $469.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $365.87. The firm has a market cap of $171.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.72 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 44.1% on a year-over-year basis. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. 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 presently 28.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Balefire LLC acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $281,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Seagate Technology by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,353 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,706,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $22,754,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

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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