Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $1,066.07, but opened at $1,133.36. Seagate Technology shares last traded at $1,119.2380, with a volume of 968,178 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $700.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $750.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. China Renaissance upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $802.00 to $983.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $740.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $831.79.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $745.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $493.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.99 billion, a PE ratio of 101.80 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.59. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 1,005.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.1% on a year-over-year basis. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 24th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,364 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $1,200,579.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,639,736.72. This represents a 10.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Shankar Arumugavelu sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $927.68, for a total transaction of $927,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,146,807.68. This represents a 13.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 141,069 shares of company stock worth $107,161,712 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STX. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 124.4% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 92 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 884.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 343.5% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 102 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm’s product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.

Seagate’s products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.