Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 8,542 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,247,389 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 8,542 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Micron Technology worth $104,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MU. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,774 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $16,751,000 after purchasing an additional 12,168 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Micron Technology by 30.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,455,819 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $358,403,000 after buying an additional 806,639 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 32.0% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,004 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 1,942 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 9.1% in the third quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 4,721 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MU traded down $4.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.78. 18,633,227 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,918,740. 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 company has a market cap of $110.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $83.54 and a 1-year high of $157.54. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $96.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.70.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

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.