Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Trading Down 2.9% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Seagate shares fell 2.9% to $831.06 after EVP James Ci Lee sold 694 shares worth approximately $608,950 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $986; Morgan Stanley and Barclays recently raised their targets to $1,187 and $1,250, respectively.
• Seagate reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.71 beating estimates and revenue rising 48.5% year over year to $3.63 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) shares fell 2.9% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $782.08 and last traded at $831.06. 5,305,869 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 20% from the average daily volume of 4,424,589 shares. The stock had previously closed at $856.13.

Specifically, EVP James Ci Lee sold 694 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $877.45, for a total value of $608,950.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 347 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $304,475.15. The trade was a 66.67% decrease in their position. The sale 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,035.00 to $1,187.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore increased their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $986.00.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $186.35 billion, a PE ratio of 59.87 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $896.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $629.98.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.61. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 369.98% and a net margin of 26.11%.The company had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.59 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 48.5% on a year-over-year basis. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 33.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is 21.33%.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 884.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 187 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 343.5% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 102 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 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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