Sovran Advisors LLC Takes Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,765 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $738,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MU. State Street Corp grew its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,174,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022,180 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Micron Technology by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,109,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,985 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Stock Down 1.9 %

MU stock opened at $94.08 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $104.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.15 and a 52-week high of $157.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.88.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released 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. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MU. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

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.