Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Buys 172,047 Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 8,813.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 173,999 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 172,047 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Seagate Technology worth $19,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Seagate Technology by 177.9% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 403 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Northland Securities upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised Seagate Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $118.83.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

Shares of STX traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $98.18. The stock had a trading volume of 2,285,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,483,856. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a 12 month low of $77.71 and a 12 month high of $115.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a PE ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50-day moving average is $104.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.04.

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

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. 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. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 73.11%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other Seagate Technology news, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total transaction of $126,558.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $804,672.90. This trade represents a 13.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 141,785 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total transaction of $15,621,871.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 668,616 shares in the company, valued at $73,668,110.88. This trade represents a 17.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 221,820 shares of company stock worth $23,953,746 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

About Seagate Technology

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.