Candriam S.C.A. Increases Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 37.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,050,153 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 287,019 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $88,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 4.2% during the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.5% during the third quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Xcel Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $518,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,474 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.4 %

NASDAQ MU opened at $94.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $105.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.19 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.91 and a 200 day moving average of $98.60. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.