Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Falls 8% – Time to Sell?

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) shares were down 8% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $625.30 and last traded at $644.58. Approximately 5,756,007 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 29% from the average daily volume of 4,474,896 shares. The stock had previously closed at $700.47.

Key Seagate Technology News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Seagate reported fiscal Q1 revenue of approximately $4.23 billion, up 61% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS of $7.68, exceeding the $7.44 consensus estimate. Record free cash flow of roughly $1.5 billion and demand from AI data centers and cloud-storage customers strengthen the growth outlook. Seagate Q1 Earnings Ride Record Cash Flow And AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial publications continue to highlight Seagate’s exposure to AI infrastructure, mass-capacity storage demand, improved pricing power, strong return on equity and comparatively attractive valuation versus Western Digital. Several firms maintain positive or buy-equivalent views, including Wells Fargo and Wedbush. Should Investors Buy Seagate Shares After Q1 Earnings Momentum?
• Positive Sentiment: Seagate was included among companies announcing dividend increases, giving income-oriented investors an additional reason to hold the shares amid market volatility and interest-rate uncertainty. Stocks That Declared Dividend Hikes
• Neutral Sentiment: Seagate’s Mozaic technology and nearline drive shipments remain important catalysts for expanding storage capacity in AI data centers, but investors appear to have already priced in substantial earnings growth following the stock’s strong run.
• Negative Sentiment: A broad selloff in semiconductor, memory and storage shares pressured STX alongside Sandisk, Western Digital and Micron, even after Sandisk delivered an earnings beat and raised guidance. This suggests valuation concerns and risk reduction are outweighing near-term earnings strength. Storage Stocks Sell Off Despite Strong Results
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms reduced Seagate price targets, including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, TD Cowen, Susquehanna and Wells Fargo, while Summit Insights downgraded the stock. Although some analysts still see substantial upside, the target reductions are weighing on sentiment and highlighting elevated expectations and valuation risk. Morgan Stanley Cuts Seagate Price Target

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on STX shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,200.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Summit Insights lowered shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,300.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,000.88.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 8.0%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $803.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $686.80. The stock has a market cap of $146.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.44 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.15 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 252.47%. The business’s revenue was up 61.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 35.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 23rd. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 15.97%.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In other news, EVP James Lee sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.14, for a total value of $351,250.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $665,899.18. This represents a 34.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Morris sold 9,354 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $877.91, for a total value of $8,211,970.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,693 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,411.63. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 466,812 shares of company stock worth $378,583,042. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STX. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 85.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 22,046 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,637,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190 shares during the last quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. boosted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. now owns 43,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $41,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the first quarter worth approximately $1,328,000. Financial Insights Inc. acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth approximately $706,000. Finally, Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Seagate Technology in the third quarter worth approximately $820,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.