Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Price Target Lowered to $99.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) had its price objective trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $112.00 to $99.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on STX. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.39.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

STX opened at $88.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $95.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.77. Seagate Technology has a 12 month low of $79.39 and a 12 month high of $115.32.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.34) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Seagate Technology news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.83, for a total transaction of $2,056,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 622,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,011,366.51. The trade was a 3.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total transaction of $126,558.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $804,672.90. This trade represents a 13.59 % 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STX. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology during the third quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% in 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. increased its holdings 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 valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Seagate Technology by 232.5% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

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.