Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Falls 7.9% – Time to Sell?

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) shares dropped 7.9% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as low as $586.88 and last traded at $593.76. 5,424,904 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 21% from the average session volume of 4,479,958 shares. The stock had previously closed at $644.58.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,350.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Seagate Technology from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,300.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,200.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,000.88.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 7.9%

The stock has a market cap of $135.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $799.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $688.41.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.44 by $0.24. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 252.47% and a net margin of 31.86%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. Seagate Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 61.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 37.44 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.97%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In related news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 49,984 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.16, for a total transaction of $38,595,645.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,756 shares in the company, valued at $54,634,952.96. This trade represents a 41.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total transaction of $41,239,078.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,543,884.80. This trade represents a 90.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 436,644 shares of company stock valued at $353,934,542. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 85.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 22,046 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,637,000 after acquiring an additional 10,190 shares in the last quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. now owns 43,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $41,978,000 after acquiring an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth $1,328,000. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter worth about $820,000. Finally, Financial Insights Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter worth about $706,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX) is a data storage company that develops and manufactures mass-capacity storage products and solutions. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs) used in cloud data centers, enterprise systems, network-attached storage, video and imaging applications, and personal computers.

The company also provides storage-related services and solutions designed to help organizations store, manage, protect, and access large volumes of digital information.