Wedbush Securities Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Wedbush Securities Inc. cut its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,641 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 564 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 583.3% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 410 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This 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.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MU stock opened at $64.72 on Friday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $63.86 and a one year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $93.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.16. The firm has a market cap of $72.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.03%.

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.