Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at China Renaissance

China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) in a research report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $325.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on STX. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $170.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $275.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $245.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $188.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.17.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 5.0%

STX opened at $278.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $249.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.59. Seagate Technology has a 12-month low of $63.19 and a 12-month high of $297.88.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 24th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 24th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 54,021 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.16, for a total transaction of $15,404,628.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 56,293 shares in the company, valued at $16,052,511.88. This trade represents a 48.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.82, for a total value of $5,256,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 465,668 shares in the company, valued at $122,386,863.76. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 152,011 shares of company stock worth $39,835,990 in the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STX. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,187,621,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Seagate Technology by 1,072.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,949,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $696,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,697,957 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 12.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,920,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,607,321,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,191 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth $197,027,000. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth $193,500,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.