Channing Global Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Channing Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 42.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,708 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,713 shares during the quarter. Micron Technology makes up approximately 2.6% of Channing Global Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Channing Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $3,847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 219.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,290 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 3,635 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at about $136,000. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,774 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $16,751,000 after buying an additional 12,168 shares during the period. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 1,569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MU shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price target on the stock. 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Insider Activity

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

Micron Technology Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $94.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.15 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.82 billion, a PE ratio of 27.11 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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 issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.26%.

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.