HM Payson & Co. Grows Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 172.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,566 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 992 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 414,072 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,848,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 225,671 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $18,992,000 after buying an additional 61,293 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 174,329 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,766,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,804 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,088,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $276,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MU. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $92.96 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79 and a beta of 1.23. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.54 and a 12 month high of $157.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. Analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

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.