Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 31.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 274,900 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 127,900 shares during the period. Seagate Technology comprises approximately 0.9% of Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Seagate Technology worth $30,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $118.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William D. Mosley sold 141,785 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.82, for a total transaction of $76,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at $667,430.10. This represents a 10.27 % 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 in the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:STX traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $97.63. 4,571,257 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,480,629. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.07. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a fifty-two week low of $76.87 and a fifty-two week high of $115.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80 and a beta of 1.03.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.34) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change 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 yield of 2.95%. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.20%.

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.