Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX)

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 99,688 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 624% compared to the average daily volume of 13,765 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on STX. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Seagate Technology from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Fox Advisors upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $245.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $170.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $245.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $350.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Seagate Technology news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 54,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.16, for a total value of $15,404,628.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 56,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,052,511.88. The trade was a 48.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.03, for a total transaction of $5,420,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 445,668 shares in the company, valued at $120,789,398.04. This trade represents a 4.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 132,555 shares of company stock valued at $36,030,007. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the third quarter worth about $1,187,621,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 1,072.5% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,949,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $696,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,697,957 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Seagate Technology in the second quarter valued at approximately $197,027,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology during the 2nd quarter valued at about $193,500,000. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1,468.1% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 1,417,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $204,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327,197 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Stock Down 0.2%

STX traded down $0.55 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $282.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,457,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,085,600. The firm has a market cap of $60.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $261.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.02. Seagate Technology has a one year low of $63.19 and a one year high of $308.93.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 24th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 24th. This is an increase from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 36.97%.

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.