StockNews.com Downgrades Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) to Hold

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on STX. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $112.00 to $99.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $121.53.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of STX stock traded up $2.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $91.23. 3,252,137 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,579,617. Seagate Technology has a 1 year low of $82.31 and a 1 year high of $115.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $94.92 and a 200 day moving average of $100.45. The firm has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,131 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.90, for a total value 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. The trade was a 13.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jay L. Geldmacher sold 4,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $423,530.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $294,611.60. This trade represents a 58.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,304 shares of company stock worth $5,656,238 in the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Seagate Technology by 133.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 171,952 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $18,834,000 after purchasing an additional 98,418 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the third quarter valued at about $2,146,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Seagate Technology during the second quarter valued at about $499,000. Forte Capital LLC ADV lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 28,972 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 6,653 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 3,549.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 204,493 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $22,398,000 after purchasing an additional 198,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

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.

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