Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Upgraded at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $100.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

STX has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (up previously from $144.00) on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.11.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Seagate Technology stock opened at $107.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.32. Seagate Technology has a 12-month low of $63.19 and a 12-month high of $115.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $84.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.35.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 14.67% and a negative return on equity of 63.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Seagate Technology will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total transaction of $1,691,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 555,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,988,047.12. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Seagate Technology by 2,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. 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.