Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,450,347 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 120,406 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $550,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,229,187 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,410,412,000 after buying an additional 305,860 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,489,801,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089,790 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,383,628 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,182,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,257,201 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Micron Technology by 19.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,303,400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,177,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852,688 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 0.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,833,670 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $737,015,000 after purchasing an additional 80,345 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Micron Technology stock traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $119.21. 12,468,907 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,199,230. The company has a market capitalization of $131.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.55 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.70. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.55 and a 1 year high of $130.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued 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 business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.03) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -13.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’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 owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott J. Deboer sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.31, for a total transaction of $4,412,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 158,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,497,041.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 316,890 shares of company stock valued at $35,485,387 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $105.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.60.

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.