Benjamin Edwards Inc. Invests $1.04 Million in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,482 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,039,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 351 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 177.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 403 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology

In related news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 141,785 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total value of $15,621,871.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 668,616 shares in the company, valued at $73,668,110.88. The trade was a 17.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kian Fatt Chong sold 9,182 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $968,701.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,820 shares of company stock valued at $23,953,746. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Northland Securities upped their price target on Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $118.83.

Seagate Technology Trading Up 0.3 %

STX traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $98.51. 2,720,247 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,091,385. The firm's fifty day moving average is $103.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.08. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a 1-year low of $78.10 and a 1-year high of $115.32. The company has a market cap of $20.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.72 and a beta of 1.03.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.13 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 11.34% and a negative return on equity of 32.19%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from Seagate Technology's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Seagate Technology's payout ratio is 73.11%.

Seagate Technology 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.