BNP Paribas Sells 8,708 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

BNP Paribas lowered its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 24.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,559 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 8,708 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas' holdings in Micron Technology were worth $2,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Blueshift Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 44.5% in the third quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 7,038 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,166 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter worth $102,018,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 68.3% during the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,817 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at about $843,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 38.1% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 20,811 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,158,000 after purchasing an additional 5,737 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,348,790. The trade was a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $143.04.

Micron Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ:MU traded down $3.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $98.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,013,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,485,566. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $108.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.71 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.93 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.90.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.21) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.65%.

Micron Technology Company 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.