National Pension Service Boosts Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

National Pension Service increased its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,743,110 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,347 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $238,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 306.1% during the 1st quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.3%

Micron Technology stock opened at $127.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $116.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.75. Micron Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $61.54 and a one year high of $129.85. The stock has a market cap of $142.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02 and a beta of 1.37.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.41%. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MU shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Arete Research raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,877,251.72. This represents a 22.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.28, for a total value of $291,557.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 22,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,734,864. This represents a 9.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 286,042 shares of company stock valued at $34,679,277 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is 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.