Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Increases Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 838,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 143,000 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $70,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 75.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 241.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $20,236,000 after purchasing an additional 40,802 shares in the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:MU opened at $93.63 on Friday. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The stock has a market cap of $104.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $95.75 and a 200-day moving average of $98.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MU. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

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.