Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on STX. BNP Paribas Exane raised Seagate Technology from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $105.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $99.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Seagate Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.42.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 1.2%

STX opened at $126.49 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $96.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.76. Seagate Technology has a 12-month low of $63.19 and a 12-month high of $132.23. The firm has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12 and a beta of 1.40.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. Seagate Technology’s revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Seagate Technology will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 21.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 41.62%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In related news, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $87,757.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,055 shares in the company, valued at $591,485.55. The trade was a 12.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 70,000 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.47, for a total value of $7,662,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 485,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,167,061.19. This trade represents a 12.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 393,192 shares of company stock worth $46,303,128 over the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STX. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 2,200.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.