Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) Short Interest Up 16.5% in February

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 18,730,000 shares, an increase of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 16,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days. Approximately 8.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,974,117 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,414,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814,821 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 16,530,152 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,426,717,000 after acquiring an additional 162,561 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,621,162 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,348,262,000 after acquiring an additional 5,640,443 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,502,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $937,081,000 after acquiring an additional 541,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,295,225 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $370,013,000 after acquiring an additional 132,713 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:STX opened at $88.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.99. Seagate Technology has a 1-year low of $82.31 and a 1-year high of $115.32.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 52.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Seagate Technology from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised their price target on Seagate Technology from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Benchmark upgraded Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Seagate Technology from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.00.

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.