Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Grows Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 50.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,970 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Micron Technology makes up about 0.9% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MU. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased 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 buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in Micron Technology by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 592 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 623 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, April 12th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Argus upgraded Micron Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Micron Technology from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.70, for a total transaction of $844,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $86,789,214.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.70, for a total value of $844,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $86,789,214.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 306,890 shares of company stock worth $33,005,157. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of Micron Technology stock traded up $3.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $112.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,854,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,590,105. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $104.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.52. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $130.54. The company has a market cap of $124.53 billion, a PE ratio of -32.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.74.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.03) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently -13.33%.

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.