Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Falls 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) traded down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $621.00 and last traded at $630.49. Approximately 5,549,031 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 4,409,981 shares. The stock had previously closed at $642.14.

More Seagate Technology News

Here are the key news stories impacting Seagate Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Polen Capital identified Seagate as a beneficiary of rising artificial-intelligence data-storage demand. Growing AI workloads, cloud activity and enterprise data volumes are supporting demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives. Seagate Technology Holdings plc Stands to Benefit From Rising AI Data Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment has strengthened, with J.P. Morgan issuing a Buy rating and reports highlighting positive updates from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Zacks also added STX to its Rank #1, or Strong Buy, list. Seagate Tech Gets a Buy from J.P. Morgan
• Positive Sentiment: Recent research points to strong hard-drive demand from data centers and cloud providers, improving pricing power, capacity tightness and a robust enterprise-storage pipeline. These factors have driven higher earnings expectations and several analyst upgrades. Learn Why the Bull Case for Seagate Could Change Following Analyst Upgrades
• Neutral Sentiment: Seagate’s Q1 fiscal 2027 earnings preview remains favorable, with management’s outlook supported by healthy storage demand and pricing. Investors are likely focused on whether the company can meet or exceed its guidance of $7.10–$7.50 in EPS. STX Stock Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the constructive outlook, STX has decreased in the latest market update, possibly reflecting profit-taking, elevated valuation concerns and technical weakness after its recent advance. At roughly 45 times earnings, the shares leave less room for an earnings or guidance disappointment.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Melius Research started coverage on Seagate Technology in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,600.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,240.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $1,187.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $975.92.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 1.8%

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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $820.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $810.34. The company has a market cap of $143.37 billion, a PE ratio of 45.42 and a beta of 2.06.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 35.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 24th. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP John Morris sold 15,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.15, for a total value of $11,942,071.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,038,573.80. This trade represents a 33.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO William Mosley sold 97,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.14, for a total value of $75,584,012.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 378,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,952,311.12. This trade represents a 20.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 466,959 shares of company stock worth $378,840,741. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 155.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 74 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 10.3% in the third quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 1,323.4% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,861 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,638,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 2.5% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,730 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,363,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 10.7% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 7,073 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,528,000 after buying an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX) is a data storage company that develops and manufactures mass-capacity storage products and solutions. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs) used in cloud data centers, enterprise systems, network-attached storage, video and imaging applications, and personal computers.

The company also provides storage-related services and solutions designed to help organizations store, manage, protect, and access large volumes of digital information.