Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,151 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 1,984 shares during the quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $4,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $1,470,875,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,174,643,000 after purchasing an additional 2,022,180 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $135,865,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew 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 worth $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MU shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Micron Technology stock opened at $91.16 on Friday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $96.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.36. The company has a market cap of $101.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.03%.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.