Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Trading Down 7.5% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Seagate shares fell 7.5% to about $791.76 in Monday trading, with volume sharply below the stock’s average daily level.
• Despite the pullback, analysts remain broadly optimistic: the stock carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $986, with several firms recently raising their targets.
• Seagate reported strong quarterly results, including $5.71 in EPS and $3.63 billion in revenue, representing 48.5% year-over-year revenue growth. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, while insiders sold more than $121 million of stock over the past quarter.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 7.5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $786.87 and last traded at $791.7610. 594,157 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 4,389,260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $856.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. China Renaissance increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $802.00 to $983.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Monday, June 29th. They set a "buy" rating and a $1,600.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $986.00.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

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 fifty day simple moving average of $896.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $629.98. The company has a market capitalization of $184.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.28 and a beta of 2.06.

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 net margin of 26.11% and a return on equity of 369.98%. The business had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.59 EPS. The business's 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 33.08 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 8,003 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.28, for a total transaction of $6,540,691.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,016,580.48. This represents a 68.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $751.29, for a total value of $22,538,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 339,591 shares in the company, valued at $255,131,322.39. This trade represents a 8.12% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 144,746 shares of company stock worth $121,521,088. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 124.4% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 92 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 884.2% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Avion Wealth grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 343.5% in the fourth 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 period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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