Ethic Inc. Has $13.64 Million Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Ethic Inc. grew its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,039 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $13,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Micron Technology by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $8,403,982,000 after purchasing an additional 888,087 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,012,114,000 after buying an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,052,973,000 after acquiring an additional 726,282 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,470,875,000. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of Micron Technology stock opened at $85.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.22. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.54 and a 52-week high of $157.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $192,320.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,996,320. This trade represents a 8.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,808 shares of company stock worth $1,858,424. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.48.

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.