Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Raises Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 241.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 29,000 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.'s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $4,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in Micron Technology by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 30.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,109,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,985 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,721,126 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $697,048,000 after purchasing an additional 65,591 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Micron Technology by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,536,283 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $534,189,000 after purchasing an additional 61,127 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Micron Technology by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,276,245 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $443,489,000 after purchasing an additional 295,452 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MU. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $143.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Micron Technology Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ MU traded down $2.68 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $101.80. 19,265,019 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,504,813. The firm has a market cap of $112.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.71 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $103.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.93 and a 12-month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.65 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.21) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.65%.

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.