Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Has $21.99 Million Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP increased its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. by 85.7%, acquiring an additional 116,775 shares, bringing its total holdings to 253,036 shares valued at approximately $21.99 million.
• Micron Technology reported earnings of $1.91 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and demonstrating a significant increase from $0.62 earnings per share in the same quarter of the previous year.
• Institutional investors now own 80.84% of Micron Technology's stock, reflecting strong interest and investment in the semiconductor manufacturer from various institutional players.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP boosted its position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 85.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 253,036 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 116,775 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Micron Technology were worth $21,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Roxbury Financial LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 306.1% during the first quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 100.0% during the first quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,877,251.72. The trade was a 22.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.12, for a total value of $1,876,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 148,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,538,655.04. This represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. KGI Securities cut shares of Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.24.

Micron Technology Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of Micron Technology stock traded down $4.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $120.87. 18,964,487 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,422,110. The stock has a market cap of $135.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78 and a beta of 1.37. 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 twelve month low of $61.54 and a twelve month high of $129.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $118.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.13.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.41%. The business had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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 given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. Micron Technology's payout ratio is currently 8.29%.

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.