River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 3,231 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 211,672 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 3,231 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $18,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 68.3% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 488 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $116.33 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $101.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.03 and a 1-year high of $130.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 8.98% and a negative net margin of 20.57%. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($2.03) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is -13.33%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $5,850,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 728,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,712,410. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $5,850,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 728,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,712,410. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 313,890 shares of company stock valued at $33,617,027. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.20.

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.