Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 206,934 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,498 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $17,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $947,000. First Interstate Bank purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $213,000. Wealth Alliance grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 3,908 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $225,000. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth about $211,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Micron Technology stock opened at $115.55 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $130.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.03) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -13.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MU shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Fox Advisors upgraded shares of Micron Technology from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other 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 directly owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total transaction of $563,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,431,525.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 313,890 shares of company stock worth $33,617,027 in the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.