Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX)

Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 16,121 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 189% compared to the typical volume of 5,586 put options.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 0.3 %

STX traded up $0.25 on Friday, reaching $88.63. 934,392 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,590,683. Seagate Technology has a one year low of $82.31 and a one year high of $115.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.84. The company has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 1.01.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is 52.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Seagate Technology by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,511 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,090,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its position in Seagate Technology by 116.9% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 4,392 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Seagate Technology by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 15,247 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Summit Insights upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Seagate Technology from $130.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.00.

About Seagate Technology

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.