Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Sold by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 305,544 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 49,779 shares during the quarter. Micron Technology comprises about 0.8% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $25,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% during the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% during the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $20,236,000 after purchasing an additional 40,802 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 23.1% during the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,375,000 after purchasing an additional 9,735 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MU. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target 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. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of MU stock traded down $4.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $95.08. The stock had a trading volume of 15,517,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,830,326. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.15 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The company has a market cap of $105.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.83 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.65%.

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.