Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 10,005 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 170.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,882 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 10,005 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 75.6% in the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 241.7% in the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $20,236,000 after acquiring an additional 40,802 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 23.1% during the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,375,000 after acquiring an additional 9,735 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MU. Mizuho cut their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Up 3.4 %

NASDAQ MU traded up $3.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $109.38. 23,305,977 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,080,936. The business's 50-day moving average is $97.82 and its 200-day moving average is $101.80. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.15 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 13.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.