Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) Short Interest Up 15.4% in February

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX – Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,660,000 shares, a growth of 15.4% from the January 31st total of 9,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 5.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cowen lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $61.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.58.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Seagate Technology stock opened at $64.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 54.81 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.65. Seagate Technology has a 1-year low of $47.47 and a 1-year high of $104.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 46.44, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.05. Seagate Technology had a negative return on equity of 1,031.05% and a net margin of 6.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Seagate Technology will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 22nd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is currently 99.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP Jeffrey D. Nygaard sold 36,809 shares of Seagate Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $2,544,974.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 30,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,099,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STX. Corrado Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. CI Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 102.2% in the fourth quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Seagate Technology in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Seagate Technology in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.69% of the company’s stock.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

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Seagate Technology Holdings Plc operates as holding company that is engaged in the development, production, and distribution of data storage products and electronic data storage solutions. Its products include hard disk drives, solid state hybrid drives, solid state drives, peripheral component interconnect express cards, serial advanced technology attachment controllers, storage subsystems and computing solutions.