Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 951,286 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,870,696 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 951,286 shares during the quarter. Micron Technology makes up approximately 0.9% of Van ECK Associates Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.53% of Micron Technology worth $501,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 36,945 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 21,382 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,825,000 after buying an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. EWA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Micron Technology by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,757 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Wave Investments LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $226,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price target on Micron Technology from $103.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Fox Advisors upgraded shares of Micron Technology from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $122.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total value of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.93, for a total value of $783,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $80,483,154.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 268,890 shares of company stock valued at $29,738,667 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

MU traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $114.36. 14,408,877 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,487,531. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.55 and a 1-year high of $130.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.64 billion, a PE ratio of -32.94 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The business's 50-day moving average price is $105.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.43.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The company had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 8.98% and a negative net margin of 20.57%. Micron Technology's revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.03) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -13.33%.

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.

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