Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $785,000 Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 72.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,324 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,912 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% in the third 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 last quarter. 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 valued at $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares during the period. 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 valued at $20,236,000 after purchasing an additional 40,802 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MU. KGI Securities raised shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Trading Down 6.0 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $91.82 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.87. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.54 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.