Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $112.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.53.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ STX opened at $94.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.63 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.40. Seagate Technology has a 12 month low of $82.31 and a 12 month high of $115.32.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.28. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 11.34% and a negative return on equity of 32.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.34) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other news, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total transaction of $126,558.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $804,672.90. The trade was a 13.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.82, for a total value of $76,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $667,430.10. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,304 shares of company stock valued at $5,656,238 over the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 351 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 177.9% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 403 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 232.5% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.