Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) gapped down before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $945.57, but opened at $822.56. Seagate Technology shares last traded at $834.6620, with a volume of 3,933,521 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,000.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $825.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,100.00 to $1,180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,095.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,035.00 to $1,187.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $986.00.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $854.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $776.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.94 billion, a PE ratio of 57.96 and a beta of 2.06.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 26.11% and a return on equity of 369.98%. Seagate Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 35.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.33%.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In other news, EVP John Morris sold 15,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.15, for a total value of $11,942,071.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,132 shares in the company, valued at $24,038,573.80. This trade represents a 33.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO William Mosley sold 97,889 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.14, for a total value of $75,584,012.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 378,108 shares in the company, valued at $291,952,311.12. This represents a 20.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 436,959 shares of company stock worth $351,170,369 over the last ninety days. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,081 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $20,343,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 163.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,940 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1,988.5% in the 2nd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 543 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Altar Rock LLC purchased a new position in Seagate Technology in the second quarter valued at about $260,000. Finally, Wellington Altus USA Inc. raised its position in Seagate Technology by 137.3% in the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 140 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Holdings plc is a data storage technology company that designs, manufactures and supplies solutions for storing, managing and accessing digital information. Its product portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity drives used in cloud data centers, enterprise environments, surveillance systems, network-attached storage and personal computing.

The company also offers solid-state drives (SSDs), storage systems, external storage products and related services.