Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 251,371 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 20,520 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $21,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,902,800,000 after acquiring an additional 206,499 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 892,607 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 21.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,174,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,956,311 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $837,923,000 after acquiring an additional 144,897 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Down 6.3 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $87.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $97.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 1.23. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.54 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.02 and a 200 day moving average of $98.17. 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 (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.