Stifel Financial Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Stifel Financial Corp reduced its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 15.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 284,173 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 50,125 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $29,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MU. Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in Micron Technology by 241.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,252,000 after buying an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $20,236,000 after buying an additional 40,802 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in Micron Technology by 23.1% during the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,375,000 after acquiring an additional 9,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,721,126 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $697,048,000 after acquiring an additional 65,591 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. China Renaissance began coverage on Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $172.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of MU stock opened at $101.17 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $103.66 and its 200 day moving average is $110.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $112.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.78 and a beta of 1.16. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.99 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.21) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 93.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 67.65%.

Micron Technology Company Profile

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.