Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Trading Up 7.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Seagate Technology shares jumped 7.6% after Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target from $1,000 to $1,300 and reiterated an overweight rating. The stock traded as high as $987.57 on volume above its daily average.
• Several other analysts have also recently lifted their targets on STX, and the stock now carries a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average target price of $874.52. The recent wave of upgrades reflects improving sentiment around the company.
• Seagate posted strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.10 beating estimates and revenue rising 44.1% year over year to $3.11 billion. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, payable July 7.

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) traded up 7.6% during trading on Monday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $1,000.00 to $1,300.00. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Seagate Technology traded as high as $987.57 and last traded at $968.53. Approximately 5,373,036 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 27% from the average daily volume of 4,234,276 shares. The stock had previously closed at $899.90.

STX has been the subject of a number of other reports. China Renaissance upped their price target on Seagate Technology from $802.00 to $983.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $700.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $450.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $530.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $620.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $874.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,364 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $1,200,579.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,639,736.72. This trade represents a 10.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 903 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $794,811.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,860 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,724,943.40. This trade represents a 2.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 141,069 shares of company stock worth $107,161,712 over the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 343.5% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 102 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Trading Up 7.6%

The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.89 and a beta of 2.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $818.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $530.88.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.96 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 1,005.65% and a net margin of 21.60%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 44.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 24th. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.08%.

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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