Empirical Finance LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,659 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $4,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the first quarter worth about $377,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Micron Technology by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 228,188 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $26,901,000 after buying an additional 1,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1,033.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 36,414 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,293,000 after buying an additional 33,200 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 13,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.77, for a total transaction of $1,572,396.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 260,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,981,985.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Scott J. Deboer sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.31, for a total transaction of $4,412,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 158,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,497,041.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 13,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.77, for a total value of $1,572,396.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 260,857 shares in the company, valued at $30,981,985.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 250,730 shares of company stock worth $31,063,449 over the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MU traded up $3.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $133.55. 19,676,961 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,840,502. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The firm has a market cap of $148.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -94.42 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.75 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.67 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 81.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.57) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is -32.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MU. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Raymond James upped their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Micron Technology from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $144.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.72.

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.