ARS Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 390,103 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 7,132 shares during the period. Micron Technology makes up 3.0% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $32,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MU. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its position in Micron Technology by 4.2% in the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its position in Micron Technology by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 821 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 2.4% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,382 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $105.75 on Tuesday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.15 and a fifty-two week high of $157.54. The company has a market cap of $117.82 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48 and a beta of 1.18. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.02.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MU shares. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology 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.