Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $112.64, but opened at $105.74. Seagate Technology shares last traded at $103.17, with a volume of 2,209,235 shares trading hands.

Specifically, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total value of $126,558.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at $804,672.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.83.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.79 billion, a PE ratio of 67.22 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $105.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.55.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 5.11% and a negative return on equity of 8.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is presently 181.82%.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 68.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 17,564 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,634,000 after buying an additional 7,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 258,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $24,011,000 after buying an additional 6,044 shares in the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 210.8% during the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 29,152 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,713,000 after buying an additional 19,773 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 232,957 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $21,677,000 after buying an additional 40,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 60,702 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,648,000 after buying an additional 8,242 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.