BNP Paribas Sells 8,708 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

BNP Paribas lessened its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,559 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 8,708 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Micron Technology were worth $2,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MU. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 513.5% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,902 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 4,940 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 26,964 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,179,000 after purchasing an additional 4,230 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 66,971 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $7,900,000 after purchasing an additional 22,572 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 21.0% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 258,879 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $30,519,000 after purchasing an additional 44,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1,728.9% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 13,095 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after buying an additional 12,379 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ MU opened at $101.80 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.71 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $103.07 and a 200 day moving average of $111.90. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.93 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.21) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 67.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,348,790. This represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.04.

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.