Howe & Rusling Inc. Makes New $8.11 Million Investment in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Howe & Rusling Inc. acquired a new stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 95,011 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock, valued at approximately $8,108,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Micron Technology by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,082,374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $92,370,000 after buying an additional 139,726 shares during the last quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $741,000. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $544,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

MU stock traded down $3.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $109.70. The stock had a trading volume of 16,029,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,367,436. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.80 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.55 and a 52 week high of $130.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. The company had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.03) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is presently -13.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $5,850,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 728,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $94,712,410. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $5,850,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 728,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $94,712,410. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 261,890 shares of company stock worth $29,129,527. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MU shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Argus upgraded Micron Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $140.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.20.

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.