Franklin Resources Inc. Has $789.05 Million Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,283,124 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 321,955 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.66% of Micron Technology worth $789,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MU. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,625 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 4.2% during the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 57.2% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 2.5% in the third quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 5.6% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,955 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MU shares. BNP Paribas cut shares of Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Micron Technology Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $102.50 on Friday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.63 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $103.58 and a 200-day moving average of $109.68. The firm has a market cap of $114.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 150.74 and a beta of 1.16.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.65 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 93.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.21) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 67.65%.

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.