Ethic Inc. Purchases 18,400 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Ethic Inc. grew its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 162,039 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $13,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Fiduciary Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 7,447 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in Micron Technology by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 7,629 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $396,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $3,020,000. Finally, Clearline Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $26,389,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of MU opened at $85.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.22. 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 fifty-two week low of $61.54 and a fifty-two week high of $157.54. The company has a market capitalization of $95.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.03%.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,808 shares of company stock valued at $1,858,424 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MU. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. China Renaissance downgraded Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $112.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.48.

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.