Seagate Technology Raises Targeted Annual Dividend 17% to $2.52

[btarunr]

Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ:STX) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 17 percent increase in the company's targeted regular cash dividend. The targeted annual dividend will increase from $2.16 to $2.52 per share and will continue to be paid quarterly. The first payment at the new quarterly rate of $0.63 per share is scheduled to be paid on November 20, 2015 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 6, 2015. The declaration and payment of any future quarterly dividends will continue to be at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will be dependent upon Seagate's financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

"Today's increase in our dividend targets reflects our confidence in Seagate's ability to continue to generate sustainable operating cash flow and maintain a strong balance sheet," said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman and chief executive officer. "This is consistent with our capital allocation priorities we have previously articulated, including returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share redemption."

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[john_]

I don't know how important it is for companies to give dividends to their shareholders to make them buy or keep their shares, but after WD buying SanDisk, I think Seagate better hold on that money and invest it on how they will become more relevant in the SSD market.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I don't know how important it is for companies to give dividends to their shareholders to make them buy or keep their shares, but after WD buying SanDisk, I think Seagate better hold on that money and invest it on how they will become more relevant in the SSD market.

I've got to agree. They won't be in a position to share dividends with stockholders without diversifying to include SSD's in their product stable.

 

[john_]

Seagate Technology PLC: NASDAQ:STX quotes & news - Google Finance

Their share price dropping without a parachute. I am pretty sure their shareholders still celebrate the higher dividend. Or maybe they don't.

Seriously, I really hope they don't become an AMD in the storage market.

 

[R-T-B]

Seriously, I really hope they don't become an AMD in the storage market.

I hope not too. If we're being honest, it's not THAT bad yet, but it isn't looking good either... With HGST gone we certainly don't want a WD monopoly on old style HDs.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I hope not too. If we're being honest, it's not THAT bad yet, but it isn't looking good either... With HGST gone we certainly don't want a WD monopoly on old style HDs.

Except its not that. WD bought Sandisk to enter full force in the SSD market. Meabwhile Seagate is dorking around giving dividends.

They will get left behind quick because they are still ONLY doing HDD. Meanwhile WD is doing HDF and SSD.

 

[R-T-B]

Exceot its not that. WD bought Sandisk to enter full force in the SSD market. Meabwhile Seagate is dorking around giving dividends.

They will get left behind wuick because they are still ONLY doing HDD. Meanwhile WD is doing HDF and SSD.

HDD is still very relevant in big data (servers and such that need Terabytes of room).

That said, I don't see that market lasting forever, agreed.

 

[john_]

SSDs are already at 2TBs and we are talking about 2.5''. In a few years there will be 10TBs 2.5'' SSDs with lower power consumption than today SSDs and probably less power consumption compared to a 10TB hard drive, not to mention taking much less space. Who would buy traditional hard disks then except if they are ultra cheap? So, Seagate will reach a dead end where either they wouldn't be able to sell HDDs at all, or they will be selling much less to their customers and for low profits. In both cases they will become much smaller as a company. I wonder is Seagate's board is seeing it coming and just throw the towel. Maybe they don't think they can compete in the long run, so they increase the dividend, so they can also take advantage of it being shareholders themselves, and just wait for a few years WD to buy them.

 

[R-T-B]

SSDs are already at 2TBs and we are talking about 2.5''. In a few years there will be 10TBs 2.5'' SSDs with lower power consumption than today SSDs and probably less power consumption compared to a 10TB hard drive, not to mention taking much less space. Who would buy traditional hard disks then except if they are ultra cheap? So, Seagate will reach a dead end where either they wouldn't be able to sell HDDs at all, or they will be selling much less to their customers and for low profits. In both cases they will become much smaller as a company. I wonder is Seagate's board is seeing it coming and just throw the towel. Maybe they don't think they can compete in the long run, so they increase the dividend, so they can also take advantage of it being shareholders themselves, and just wait for a few years WD to buy them.

I already said the market was dying, so yeah.

Even if it wasn't, HGST pretty much beat them in enterprise data with their Helioseal drives.

 

[Fourstaff]

I've got to agree. They won't be in a position to share dividends with stockholders without diversifying to include SSD's in their product stable.

They still have almost US$2 bln in cash though. While that is quite substantial, its not going to be enough to get anywhere given that WD paid 19bln for SanDisk.

 

[john_]

I already said the market was dying, so yeah.

Didn't say you didn't. And I am so last year

Novachips > Products > Flash Storage

 

[R-T-B]

Didn't say you didn't. And I am so last year

Novachips > Products > Flash Storage

Yeah, but I can promise you if you are filling a datacenter you aren't going to pony up that kind of money to go all SSD unless it's a brand spanking new building and such.

 

[john_]

Yeah, but I can promise you if you are filling a datacenter you aren't going to pony up that kind of money to go all SSD unless it's a brand spanking new building and such.

Today no, you are not going to fill a datacenter with those, but we don't talk only about today.

That "last year" I posted was about the size of SSDs that are available today and the fact that Novachip's 8TB version SSD doesn't seems to need more than 9-10W. I had the impression that SSDs where at 2TBs top and going over that would lead to a storage medium with high power consumption compared to a same size HDD.
The "price per gigabyte" parameter is the main reason that keeps HDDs alive. But that could change pretty fast in the next 3-5-X years. With PCIe SSDs going faster and faster every day, SATA SSDs can only start offering more GBs per $ which could lead pretty fast at SSDs with enough storage and a low price tag to make HDDs irrelevant for almost everyone.

 

[rtwjunkie]

HDD is still very relevant in big data (servers and such that need Terabytes of room).

That said, I don't see that market lasting forever, agreed.

True about HDD still being relevant in data centers and for large storage. But unless Seagate is working on or planning on the future now like WD did, they WILL be sunk.

 

[R-T-B]

True about HDD still being relevant in data centers and for large storage. But unless Seagate is working on or planning on the future now like WD did, they WILL be sunk.

No disagreement there.