Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Invests $697,000 in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Key Points

• Altfest L J & Co. Inc. acquired 8,021 shares of Micron Technology valued at approximately $697,000 in the first quarter, adding to the trend of institutional investment in the company.
• Brokerages have increased their price targets for Micron Technology, with Bank of America raising it from $84 to $140, and TD Cowen setting a target of $150, reflecting positive sentiment among analysts.
• Micron Technology reported an earnings per share of $1.91 for the last quarter, significantly beating analysts' expectations and showing an increase compared to $0.62 EPS during the same period last year.

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,021 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MU. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Roxbury Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 306.1% in 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. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 100.0% in 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. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Micron Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. KGI Securities cut shares of Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $84.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $146.44.

Micron Technology Stock Up 6.3%

NASDAQ MU traded up $7.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $118.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 28,916,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,298,196. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.54 and a 52 week high of $129.85. The company has a market capitalization of $133.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $115.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.19.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,877,251.72. The trade was a 22.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 92,638 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.49, for a total transaction of $11,625,142.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 201,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,264,399.74. This trade represents a 31.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Micron Technology Company 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.