Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Sold by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board reduced its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. by 50.3% in the first quarter, holding 172,778 shares valued at approximately $15 million.
• Insider sales include CFO Mark J. Murphy selling 34,000 shares and EVP April S. Arnzen selling 15,000 shares, indicating a decline in their ownership positions.
• Micron Technology reported a Q2 EPS of $1.91, surpassing estimates, with revenue totaling $9.30 billion, while several analysts raised their price targets for the stock.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board decreased its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 50.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,778 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 174,580 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Micron Technology were worth $15,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orca Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.5% in the first quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,485 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 4.0% in the first quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 3,443 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.1% in the first quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,561 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.2% in the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 4,460 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.7% in the first quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,688 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,711,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MU. Wall Street Zen upgraded Micron Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, KGI Securities cut Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.24.

Micron Technology Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MU traded down $3.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $124.27. The stock had a trading volume of 18,405,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,154,266. The company has a market capitalization of $139.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39 and a beta of 1.37. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.54 and a 1-year 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $117.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.60.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. Micron Technology's payout ratio is currently 8.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 92,638 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.49, for a total transaction of $11,625,142.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 201,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,264,399.74. The trade was a 31.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 148,167 shares in the company, valued at $18,538,655.04. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.