Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Micron Technology by 0.8%, owning 6,938,848 shares valued at approximately $602.9 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Micron Technology's stock rose 6.3% to $118.89 amid strong trading volume, following its quarterly earnings report that surpassed analysts' expectations with an EPS of $1.91 against a forecast of $1.57.
• Insider activity revealed that executives sold over 286,000 shares of Micron stock in recent months, which has led to decreases in their ownership percentages.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,938,848 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 58,285 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.62% of Micron Technology worth $602,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cim Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 1.5% in the first quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,485 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 4.0% in the first quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 3,443 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 2.1% in the first quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,561 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carson Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 8,592 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Trading Up 6.3%

MU traded up $7.02 during trading 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 twelve month low of $61.54 and a twelve month high of $129.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $115.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 1.37.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $84.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. 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. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $146.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at $33,877,251.72. This represents a 22.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark J. Murphy sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.32, for a total value of $3,716,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 264,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,864,415.52. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,042 shares of company stock valued at $34,679,277 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

About Micron Technology

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.