Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Position Lowered by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 26.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 223,641 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 81,903 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $19,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during 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. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after purchasing an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,383,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,232 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $192,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,954 shares in the company, valued at $1,996,320. The trade was a 8.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,904 shares of company stock worth $4,665,124 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MU shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.00.

Micron Technology Stock Up 0.1%

Micron Technology stock opened at $116.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.54 and a 1-year high of $157.54. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.51. The company has a market capitalization of $129.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48 and a beta of 1.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted 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. The company 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 business’s revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently 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.