Banco Santander S.A. Grows Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Banco Santander S.A. raised its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 39.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 46,203 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $17,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Micron Technology by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,243,633 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,315,988 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 30.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,109,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,985 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 473.8% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,649,180 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $348,447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,187,460 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Micron Technology by 301,500.0% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,809,600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $213,334,000 after buying an additional 1,809,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Micron Technology by 82.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,959,481 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $348,893,000 after buying an additional 1,336,037 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MU. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MU opened at $100.08 on Thursday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.93 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.42. The company has a market capitalization of $110.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.66 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.64.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.65 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The business’s revenue was up 93.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.21) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.65%.

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.