Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $132.45 and last traded at $132.99, with a volume of 347509 shares. The stock had previously closed at $131.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $99.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.42.

Seagate Technology Trading Up 0.3%

The company’s 50 day moving average is $102.48 and its 200-day moving average is $95.74. The company has a market capitalization of $27.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 1.40.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 17.49% and a negative return on equity of 105.02%. Seagate Technology’s revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.62%.

Seagate Technology announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total transaction of $87,757.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,055 shares in the company, valued at $591,485.55. This trade represents a 12.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 4,201 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total transaction of $483,115.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,885. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 393,791 shares of company stock valued at $46,380,998 in the last 90 days. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Elequin Capital LP bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Seagate Technology by 2,200.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. 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.