Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 4,352,225 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 198.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,545,882 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 4,352,225 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.59% of Micron Technology worth $550,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Micron Technology Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MU traded up $2.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $79.78. The company had a trading volume of 19,715,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,282,027. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $85.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.89. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.54 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The company has a market capitalization of $89.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. 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 business posted $0.42 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MU. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Micron Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 price target on Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.56.

About Micron Technology

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.