Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research lowered shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday,Zacks reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,100.00 to $1,180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,600.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,095.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $1,300.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,350.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $986.00.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

Shares of STX opened at $913.45 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $207.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.81 and a beta of 2.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $853.79 and a 200-day moving average of $768.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. Seagate Technology has a 52 week low of $209.00 and a 52 week high of $1,145.00.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.61. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 369.98% and a net margin of 26.11%.The business had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 48.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Seagate Technology will post 35.7 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 24th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.33%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In related news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 97,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.14, for a total transaction of $75,584,012.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 378,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,952,311.12. The trade was a 20.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total value of $41,239,078.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,543,884.80. This trade represents a 90.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 436,959 shares of company stock worth $351,170,369 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 15.5% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,081 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $20,343,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in Seagate Technology by 163.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,940 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,802,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1,988.5% in the 2nd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 543 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Altar Rock LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $260,000. Finally, Wellington Altus USA Inc. boosted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 137.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 140 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Holdings plc is a data storage technology company that designs, manufactures and supplies solutions for storing, managing and accessing digital information. Its product portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity drives used in cloud data centers, enterprise environments, surveillance systems, network-attached storage and personal computing.

The company also offers solid-state drives (SSDs), storage systems, external storage products and related services.