ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 5,307 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 447,020 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 5,307 shares during the period. Micron Technology comprises 2.0% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $38,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in Micron Technology by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 1,305 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC now owns 19,842 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,652 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Micron Technology by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,125 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Homestead Advisers Corp lifted its position in Micron Technology by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 1,372 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MU shares. Argus raised shares of Micron Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Micron Technology from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on Micron Technology from $103.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.20.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $70,970,130. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,970,130. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 313,890 shares of company stock worth $33,617,027. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Micron Technology Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of MU stock traded down $5.16 on Friday, hitting $106.77. 33,747,831 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,635,740. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.74. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.03 and a twelve month high of $130.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $102.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.23 billion, a PE ratio of -30.95 and a beta of 1.27.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($2.03) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -13.33%.

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.