Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Invests $3.02 Million in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 35,885 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock, valued at approximately $3,020,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MU. Norges Bank bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Micron Technology by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Micron Technology by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after acquiring an additional 12,249,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Micron Technology by 139.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Micron Technology by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,383,442,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375,232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on MU shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $112.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $126.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $192,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,954 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,996,320. This represents a 8.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,808 shares of company stock worth $1,858,424. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Micron Technology Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MU traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $96.34. 14,146,223 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,355,475. The firm has a market cap of $107.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76 and a beta of 1.21. 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 12-month low of $61.54 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.81.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business's revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 11.03%.

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.