Shell Asset Management Co. Lowers Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Shell Asset Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 41.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,529 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 11,039 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,666,590 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,396,024,000 after buying an additional 1,681,815 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,583,348 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,927,263,000 after acquiring an additional 503,923 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,905,621 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,357,392,000 after acquiring an additional 363,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $769,372,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Micron Technology by 28.9% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,566,572 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $892,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,876 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $155.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total value of $664,355.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares in the company, valued at $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total transaction of $664,355.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,321 shares in the company, valued at $19,335,731.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total value of $5,220,767.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $109,496,781.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 236,730 shares of company stock valued at $29,435,039. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Micron Technology Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Micron Technology stock traded up $0.65 on Friday, reaching $108.10. The stock had a trading volume of 7,562,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,938,318. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.75 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $131.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -76.49 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.57) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -32.39%.

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.