Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Sold by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,202 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 2,706 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% in the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% during the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,252,000 after acquiring an additional 29,000 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $20,236,000 after acquiring an additional 40,802 shares in the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 7.3 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $106.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.78 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $96.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.53. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.15 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MU. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price objective for the company. One research 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.com, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction 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 approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.