Plato Investment Management Ltd Lowers Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Plato Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,303 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 680 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $2,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 2.4% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Xcel Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MU opened at $90.54 on Tuesday. 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 capitalization of $100.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $95.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.75. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

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.