Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Invests $846,000 in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,050 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $846,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MU. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 75.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its stake in Micron Technology by 241.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after acquiring an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 26.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $569,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ MU opened at $88.25 on Wednesday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $79.15 and a one year high of $157.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $98.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.