Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 264,958 Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,395,815 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 264,958 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $117,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $8,403,982,000 after purchasing an additional 888,087 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $1,470,875,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,956,311 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $837,923,000 after acquiring an additional 144,897 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MU opened at $88.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $82.42 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.53 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $94.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.42.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MU. UBS Group boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. KGI Securities raised shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology 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.