Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 92,570 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 18,758 shares during the period. Micron Technology accounts for 1.1% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $12,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of Micron Technology stock traded down $3.94 on Monday, hitting $98.91. The company had a trading volume of 26,719,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,368,430. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.83 and a 52 week high of $157.54. The company has a market cap of $109.68 billion, a PE ratio of -69.65 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.14. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.57) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 81.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently -32.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total transaction of $664,355.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,335,731.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total value of $664,355.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,335,731.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $5,220,767.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,496,781.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,174 shares of company stock worth $8,635,073 in the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $157.12.

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.