Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Raised to “Neutral” at BNP Paribas Exane

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) was upgraded by equities researchers at BNP Paribas Exane from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday,Finviz reports. The brokerage currently has a $100.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 6.92% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Seagate Technology from $133.00 to $129.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Seagate Technology from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “negative” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.11.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ STX opened at $107.43 on Friday. Seagate Technology has a 12 month low of $63.19 and a 12 month high of $115.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.41.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 555,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,988,047.12. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,621,162 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,348,262,000 after acquiring an additional 5,640,443 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,920,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,607,321,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,191 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Seagate Technology by 6.9% during the fourth 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 3,339.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 933,996 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $79,343,000 after purchasing an additional 906,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $77,341,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.