Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,524 Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,524 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,370,280,000 after buying an additional 9,489,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,383,442,000 after buying an additional 4,375,232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. China Renaissance cut shares of Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $146.44.

Micron Technology Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:MU traded down $3.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $113.26. The company had a trading volume of 34,575,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,355,946. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41 and a beta of 1.35. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $110.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 1.89. Micron Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $61.54 and a one year high of $129.85.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th will be paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 8.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Micron Technology news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at $33,877,251.72. This trade represents a 22.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven J. Gomo sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.15, for a total value of $876,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 22,762 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,848,664.30. This represents a 23.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,446 shares of company stock valued at $31,154,717. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.