Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Rating Increased to Buy at Benchmark

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Benchmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday. The brokerage presently has a $120.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.52% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on STX. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $112.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $133.00 to $129.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Seagate Technology from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

STX opened at $101.25 on Wednesday. Seagate Technology has a fifty-two week low of $82.31 and a fifty-two week high of $115.32. The company has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.44 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.28.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.28. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 11.34% and a negative return on equity of 32.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Seagate Technology will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.53, for a total value of $1,990,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 642,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,947,726.41. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jay L. Geldmacher sold 4,100 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $423,530.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $294,611.60. This trade represents a 58.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,173 shares of company stock valued at $5,529,679. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STX. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 3.6% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,620 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,113 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 3,377 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,671 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.