Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $120.00 to $110.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the data storage provider's stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on STX. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Seagate Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $120.94.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

Shares of Seagate Technology stock traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $95.07. 3,820,538 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,831,134. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82 and a beta of 1.06. Seagate Technology has a 12-month low of $82.31 and a 12-month high of $115.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.37.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.34) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Seagate Technology will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were 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 was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Seagate Technology's payout ratio is presently 75.20%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other news, SVP Kian Fatt Chong sold 9,182 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $968,701.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 owns 7,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $804,672.90. The trade was a 13.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,304 shares of company stock valued at $5,656,238 over the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 2,407.1% in 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 period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 232.5% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.