Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 726,282 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 726,282 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $2,052,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth $1,470,875,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 339.6% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,255,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $189,781,000 after buying an additional 1,742,073 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $135,865,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 254.4% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,859,416 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $192,840,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,690 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MU stock opened at $86.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.23. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $83.54 and a one year high of $157.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $95.62 and its 200 day moving average is $98.51.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MU. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.76.

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.