Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price Down 16.3% – Time to Sell?

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)’s stock price was down 16.3% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $461.11 and last traded at $466.53. 9,573,104 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 112% from the average daily volume of 4,511,013 shares. The stock had previously closed at $557.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,350.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,095.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,400.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,000.88.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $784.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $692.44. The company has a market cap of $107.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.50 and a beta of 2.16.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.44 by $0.24. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 252.47%. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.61 earnings per share. Seagate Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 61.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 37.96 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology

In related news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 49,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.16, for a total value of $38,595,645.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,634,952.96. The trade was a 41.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.14, for a total value of $75,584,012.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 378,108 shares in the company, valued at $291,952,311.12. This represents a 20.57% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 469,319 shares of company stock valued at $373,883,846 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 2,655.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,414,136 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,329,641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,538 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 3,872.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 967,528 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $378,985,000 after buying an additional 943,170 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 965,565 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $378,267,000 after buying an additional 235,359 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 834,705 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $805,490,000 after buying an additional 6,944 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 639,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $250,491,000 after buying an additional 55,900 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.