Arizona State Retirement System Acquires 2,285 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 320,216 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $26,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $20,236,000 after purchasing an additional 40,802 shares during the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth about $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. This trade represents 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 corporate insiders.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MU opened at $94.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $95.91 and its 200 day moving average is $98.60. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19 and a beta of 1.18. 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 announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share 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 yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MU. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America lowered shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Company 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.