River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

River Road Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 211,672 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 3,231 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $18,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MU. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,229,187 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,410,412,000 after purchasing an additional 305,860 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Micron Technology by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,911,286 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,770,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,820 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,489,801,000 after buying an additional 7,089,790 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,348,845 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,225,181,000 after buying an additional 253,179 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,383,628 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,182,608,000 after buying an additional 5,257,201 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $103.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.20.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ MU opened at $116.33 on Thursday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.03 and a 12 month high of $130.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $101.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.22.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.03) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -13.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $70,970,130. 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 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 313,890 shares of company stock worth $33,617,027. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.