Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $99.00 to $140.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Seagate Technology from $130.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.37.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of STX opened at $112.74 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 1.32. Seagate Technology has a twelve month low of $63.19 and a twelve month high of $115.32.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 63.48% and a net margin of 14.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Seagate Technology will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 25th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 25th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is 41.62%.

Seagate Technology announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to buy up to 21.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In related news, Director Judy Bruner sold 10,446 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.71, for a total value of $1,135,584.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,333,654.28. This trade represents a 45.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kian Fatt Chong sold 6,410 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.26, for a total value of $713,176.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,856 shares of company stock valued at $11,202,861 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,621,162 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,348,262,000 after buying an additional 5,640,443 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 12.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,920,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,607,321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,191 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 6.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,814,821 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 3,339.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 933,996 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $79,343,000 after purchasing an additional 906,840 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $77,341,000. 92.87% of the stock is 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.