Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Holdings Increased by National Pension Service

National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,877,207 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,206 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $160,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,229,187 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,410,412,000 after buying an additional 305,860 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 47.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,489,801,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089,790 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,383,628 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,182,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,257,201 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,303,400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,177,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,833,670 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $737,015,000 after purchasing an additional 80,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MU has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Micron Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $115.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday. Fox Advisors upgraded Micron Technology from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total transaction of $563,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,431,525.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total value of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total value of $563,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,431,525.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 370,207 shares of company stock worth $41,839,707. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of Micron Technology stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $119.32. 10,840,362 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,094,646. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.70. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.55 and a 52 week high of $130.54. The firm has a market cap of $131.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.59 and a beta of 1.27.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.03) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is -13.33%.

About Micron Technology

Micron Technology, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells memory and storage products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, Embedded Business Unit, and Storage Business Unit. It provides memory and storage technologies comprising dynamic random access memory semiconductor devices with low latency that provide high-speed data retrieval; non-volatile and re-writeable semiconductor storage devices; and non-volatile re-writable semiconductor memory devices that provide fast read speeds under the Micron and Crucial brands, as well as through private labels.