Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Decreases Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 57.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,231 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 4,431 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Micron Technology were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,973 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,474 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 10,481 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 price objective on Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $129.76.

Micron Technology Trading Down 16.1 %

Shares of MU stock traded down $14.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $74.34. The stock had a trading volume of 44,680,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,727,681. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $94.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $74.26 and a 52-week high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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