Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC $STX

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 80,637 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,552 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Seagate Technology were worth $19,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Seagate Technology by 884.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 320 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in Seagate Technology during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ:STX opened at $304.01 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $278.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $216.60. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 1-year low of $63.19 and a 1-year high of $332.00. The firm has a market cap of $64.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.60.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 24th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 24th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Seagate Technology in a report on Monday, December 29th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on Seagate Technology from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $293.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Seagate Technology news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 54,021 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 56,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,052,511.88. This represents a 48.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total value of $1,620,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,251,070. This trade represents a 33.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 132,555 shares of company stock worth $36,743,207 in the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm’s product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.

Seagate’s products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.