Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Down 7.9% – What’s Next?

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX)’s share price traded down 7.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $629.00 and last traded at $642.14. 5,576,947 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 27% from the average session volume of 4,402,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $696.89.

Seagate Technology News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Seagate Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Polen Capital identified Seagate as a beneficiary of rising artificial-intelligence data-storage demand. Growing AI workloads, cloud activity and enterprise data volumes are supporting demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives. Seagate Technology Holdings plc Stands to Benefit From Rising AI Data Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment has strengthened, with J.P. Morgan issuing a Buy rating and reports highlighting positive updates from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Zacks also added STX to its Rank #1, or Strong Buy, list. Seagate Tech Gets a Buy from J.P. Morgan
• Positive Sentiment: Recent research points to strong hard-drive demand from data centers and cloud providers, improving pricing power, capacity tightness and a robust enterprise-storage pipeline. These factors have driven higher earnings expectations and several analyst upgrades. Learn Why the Bull Case for Seagate Could Change Following Analyst Upgrades
• Neutral Sentiment: Seagate’s Q1 fiscal 2027 earnings preview remains favorable, with management’s outlook supported by healthy storage demand and pricing. Investors are likely focused on whether the company can meet or exceed its guidance of $7.10–$7.50 in EPS. STX Stock Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the constructive outlook, STX has decreased in the latest market update, possibly reflecting profit-taking, elevated valuation concerns and technical weakness after its recent advance. At roughly 45 times earnings, the shares leave less room for an earnings or guidance disappointment.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,180.00 to $865.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Wedbush increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $825.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Seagate Technology from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $975.92.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $143.37 billion, a PE ratio of 45.42 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $820.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $810.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 369.98% and a net margin of 26.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 35.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 24th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total value of $41,239,078.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,543,884.80. The trade was a 90.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Morris sold 15,466 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $772.15, for a total value of $11,942,071.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,038,573.80. The trade was a 33.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 466,959 shares of company stock valued at $378,840,741 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 10,190 shares during the period. UNICOM Systems Inc. boosted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. now owns 43,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $41,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the 1st quarter worth $1,328,000. Financial Insights Inc. acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $706,000. Finally, Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the third quarter valued at about $820,000. 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.