BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Increases Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 212,324 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,316 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $17,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after acquiring an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,383,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,232 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $112.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,808 shares of company stock worth $1,858,424. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Micron Technology Price Performance

MU opened at $95.84 on Thursday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $83.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.61. The firm has a market cap of $107.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62 and a beta of 1.21. 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 earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.03%.

About Micron Technology

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.