QV Investors Inc. Boosts Stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

QV Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 41.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,335 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 5,385 shares during the period. QV Investors Inc.'s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $1,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MU. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,318 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,587 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $215,000. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,366 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $112.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $127.60.

Micron Technology Trading Up 5.2%

NASDAQ:MU traded up $5.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $108.59. 16,473,697 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,516,065. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29 and a beta of 1.21. The firm's 50 day moving average is $83.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.03. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.54 and a 52 week high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The company's revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $192,320.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,996,320. This represents a 8.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.