River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 5,854 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157,418 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 5,854 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $13,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MU. Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Micron Technology by 75.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% during the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after acquiring an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $569,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,062,000 after purchasing an additional 8,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MU opened at $89.05 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $99.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66 and a beta of 1.23. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $83.54 and a 1-year high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. Research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 owned by corporate insiders.

Micron Technology 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.