Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,247,389 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 8,542 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Micron Technology worth $104,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 1,096.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 261.1% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 325 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 602.2% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Trading Up 7.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $106.79 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $96.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.53. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.15 and a 52-week high of $157.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.78 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

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.