Ballast Inc. Increases Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Ballast Inc. boosted its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,447 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 895 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% in the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $20,236,000 after acquiring an additional 40,802 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,375,000 after acquiring an additional 9,735 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of MU opened at $105.75 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.48. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.15 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.95) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.25 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $114.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.