Van ECK Associates Corp Has $857.49 Million Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,188,801 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 375,397 shares during the quarter. Micron Technology accounts for about 1.1% of Van ECK Associates Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.91% of Micron Technology worth $857,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 219.6% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,290 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 3,635 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in Micron Technology by 8.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,774 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $16,751,000 after purchasing an additional 12,168 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Micron Technology by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,455,819 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $358,403,000 after purchasing an additional 806,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 10,793 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,119,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $91.68 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $96.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.77. 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 52-week low of $79.15 and a 52-week high of $157.54. The stock has a market cap of $102.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.42 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MU. TD Cowen dropped their price target 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. Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on Micron Technology in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

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.