Palouse Capital Management Inc. Buys New Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,101 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,103,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $20,236,000 after purchasing an additional 40,802 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ MU opened at $99.52 on Friday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.15 and a fifty-two week high of $157.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $96.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $110.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.68 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MU shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America lowered Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.