Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Sold by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Micron Technology by 98.1% in Q1, now owning only 302 shares worth $26,000 after selling 16,012 shares.
• Micron Technology's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $1.91, surpassing estimates, with a revenue of $9.30 billion, above the expected $8.83 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.115, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.41%, with a dividend payout ratio of 8.29%.

Heartland Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 98.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 302 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 16,012 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $26,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,318 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 85,722 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $7,214,000 after acquiring an additional 13,985 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 48,342 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 63,584 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,171 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MU shares. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $163.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $146.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.12, for a total transaction of $1,876,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 148,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,538,655.04. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 288,446 shares of company stock worth $34,871,597. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Micron Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ:MU traded up $1.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $113.51. The company had a trading volume of 6,381,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,196,734. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $127.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41 and a beta of 1.35. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $113.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.72. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.54 and a 52-week high of $129.85.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, research 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, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 8.29%.

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.