Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 150,734 Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) by 74.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 354,013 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 150,734 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Seagate Technology worth $38,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1.5% in the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,620 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 4.0% in the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,190 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,671 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $118.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $535,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,590. This represents a 32.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.82, for a total value of $76,365.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at $667,430.10. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,961 shares of company stock worth $23,967,629. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Seagate Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STX traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $88.49. 1,142,224 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,519,914. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $100.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.12. Seagate Technology Holdings plc has a fifty-two week low of $79.39 and a fifty-two week high of $115.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.10 and a beta of 1.03.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.34) EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings plc will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Seagate Technology's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Seagate Technology's dividend payout ratio is 75.20%.

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.