Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,750,398 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 2,858,441 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.61% of Micron Technology worth $568,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 339.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,255,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $189,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,073 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $135,865,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. KGI Securities raised shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $68.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $92.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $76.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.54 and a 1-year high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

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.