Essex Financial Services Inc. Takes $210,000 Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Essex Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Micron Technology by 68.3% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 488 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 592 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 67.5% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 623 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $4,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 773,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,355,700. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $4,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,355,700. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 323,890 shares of company stock valued at $36,079,267 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MU shares. Mizuho raised their price target on Micron Technology from $105.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Fox Advisors raised shares of Micron Technology from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $103.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.20.

Micron Technology Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Micron Technology stock opened at $114.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.67. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.55 and a 52-week high of $130.54. 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 (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($2.03) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently -13.33%.

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.