Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Lowers Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. reduced its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,325 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 639 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MU. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,833,670 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $737,015,000 after purchasing an additional 80,345 shares during the last quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 492.3% during the 3rd quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 26,444 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 21,979 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,807,926 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $599,203,000 after purchasing an additional 927,302 shares during the last quarter. Merlin Capital Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at $407,000. Finally, Amitell Capital Pte Ltd increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. Amitell Capital Pte Ltd now owns 95,210 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,477,000 after purchasing an additional 47,105 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $121.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.03 and a 1-year high of $130.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $100.62 and its 200 day moving average is $85.63.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced 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 for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.03) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -13.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.20, for a total value of $582,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 642,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,435,283.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.20, for a total value of $582,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 642,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,435,283.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 313,890 shares of company stock valued at $33,354,527 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MU. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.20.

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.