First Trust Advisors LP Sells 293,723 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,653,517 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 293,723 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $139,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 114.9% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 583.3% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 410 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.36.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MU opened at $68.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.23 and a 200-day moving average of $95.89. Micron Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $61.54 and a one year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 11.03%.

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.