Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Shares Down 7.9% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) traded down 7.9% on Thursday. The company traded as low as $629.00 and last traded at $642.14. 5,576,947 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 27% from the average session volume of 4,402,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $696.89.

Key Headlines Impacting Seagate Technology

Here are the key news stories impacting Seagate Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher targets: J.P. Morgan initiated a Buy rating, while Morgan Stanley and Bank of America expressed optimism. Bank of America raised its price target to $1,200 from $1,150, citing stronger-than-expected HDD demand and forecasting first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue near the high end of guidance. J.P. Morgan Buy rating Bank of America price target increase
• Positive Sentiment: Data-center and AI storage demand: Research coverage points to robust nearline HDD demand from cloud and data-center customers, improving pricing power and a strong enterprise-storage product pipeline. These trends could support revenue, margins and earnings growth. Seagate bullish case
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable earnings setup: Seagate’s first-quarter fiscal 2027 outlook remains strong, supported by storage demand and pricing. Zacks upgraded the stock to Rank #2 (Buy) and added it to its Strong Buy list, citing the company’s history of earnings surprises and favorable estimate trends. Seagate earnings preview Zacks earnings estimate analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Results are the next major catalyst: Investors are focused on whether Seagate can meet or exceed its fiscal 2027 guidance. Strong expectations provide upside potential, but they also increase the risk of a “sell-the-news” reaction if results or guidance are merely in line.
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and valuation concerns: Seagate has been among the year’s strongest memory and storage performers, prompting debate over whether investors should lock in gains. Its elevated valuation and high expectations leave the stock vulnerable to profit-taking ahead of earnings, even with favorable fundamentals. Storage stock rally and profit-taking analysis

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on STX shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,240.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,350.00 price objective on shares of Seagate Technology in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $825.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,187.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $975.92.

Seagate Technology Trading Down 7.9%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $833.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $810.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.02 billion, a PE ratio of 46.26 and a beta of 2.06.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The data storage provider reported $5.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $3.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.50 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 369.98% and a net margin of 26.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 48.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 35.75 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 24th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 21.33%.

Insider Activity at Seagate Technology

In other Seagate Technology news, EVP John Morris sold 15,466 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $772.15, for a total transaction of $11,942,071.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,038,573.80. This represents a 33.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Ban Teh sold 52,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $782.08, for a total transaction of $41,239,078.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,543,884.80. This represents a 90.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 466,959 shares of company stock valued at $378,840,741. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seagate Technology

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 85.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 22,046 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $8,637,000 after acquiring an additional 10,190 shares during the period. UNICOM Systems Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 18.2% in the second quarter. UNICOM Systems Inc. now owns 43,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $41,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the first quarter valued at about $1,328,000. Financial Insights Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the second quarter worth about $706,000. Finally, Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Seagate Technology in the third quarter worth about $820,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX) is a data storage company that develops and manufactures mass-capacity storage products and solutions. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs) used in cloud data centers, enterprise systems, network-attached storage, video and imaging applications, and personal computers.

The company also provides storage-related services and solutions designed to help organizations store, manage, protect, and access large volumes of digital information.