Merit Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 47.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,530 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 4,147 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MU. Sandy Spring Bank increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 1,305 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. HMS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC now owns 19,842 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 6.0% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,652 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Micron Technology by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,125 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Homestead Advisers Corp increased its stake in Micron Technology by 12.5% in the third quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 1,372 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total value of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total transaction of $563,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $63,431,525.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 316,890 shares of company stock worth $35,485,387 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com raised Micron Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp increased their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Micron Technology from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.60.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Micron Technology stock opened at $119.21 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $110.11 and a 200-day moving average of $90.70. The firm has a market cap of $131.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.55 and a beta of 1.27. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.55 and a 1-year high of $130.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($2.03) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -13.33%.

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.