Argent Trust Co Reduces Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Argent Trust Co lowered its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,041 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 3,445 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $6,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.1% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,931,811 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $227,741,000 after buying an additional 20,741 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,056,000. Norden Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 1,916.7% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 50,134 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,910,000 after acquiring an additional 47,648 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 531,637 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $45,383,000 after acquiring an additional 28,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 6.3% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 99,839 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,770,000 after acquiring an additional 5,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MU. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $144.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.12.

Micron Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ MU opened at $88.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $102.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.96. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.83 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a market cap of $98.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -62.49 and a beta of 1.17.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.14. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.57) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is -32.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total transaction of $664,355.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.