William D. Mosley Sells 20,000 Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) Stock

Key Points

• William D. Mosley, CEO of Seagate Technology, sold 20,000 shares of stock for $3.08 million, reducing his holdings by 4.01% to about 478,912 shares worth approximately $73.6 million.
• Seagate Technology reported Q2 earnings of $2.59 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.45, alongside a revenue increase of 29.5% year-over-year.
• The company's Board of Directors has authorized a $5 billion stock buyback plan, indicating confidence in the company's stock valuation.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $3,075,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 478,912 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $73,632,720. This represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Shares of STX remained flat at $154.81 during mid-day trading on Monday. 2,509,635 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,026,595. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a fifty-two week low of $63.19 and a fifty-two week high of $157.62. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $138.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.87. The company has a market cap of $32.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.50.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 169.60% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on STX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $90.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Seagate Technology from $120.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $151.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in STX. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 17,856 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,590,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Partners in Financial Planning acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth approximately $231,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology in the second quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in Seagate Technology by 60.5% during the second quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 3,997 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in Seagate Technology by 3.1% during the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 4,764 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Holdings plc provides data storage technology and solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, and internationally. It provides mass capacity storage products, including enterprise nearline hard disk drives (HDDs), enterprise nearline solid state drives (SSDs), enterprise nearline systems, video and image HDDs, and network-attached storage drives.

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