Highland Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Highland Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,988 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 4,415 shares during the quarter. Micron Technology comprises approximately 0.9% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $16,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 262,100 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $22,058,000 after buying an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,525,000. UG Investment Advisers Ltd. grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. UG Investment Advisers Ltd. now owns 609,137 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $51,265,000 after purchasing an additional 122,822 shares during the last quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,704,000. Finally, Orca Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of MU opened at $89.04 on Thursday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.15 and a 1-year high of $157.54. The stock has a market cap of $99.21 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Micron Technology Company 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.