Virtu Financial LLC Has $5.37 Million Stock Position in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 19.2% during the first quarter, acquiring nearly 10,000 additional shares, bringing the total value of their holdings to approximately $5.36 million.
• Multiple research analysts have raised their price targets for Micron Technology, with estimates ranging up to $200.00, resulting in an average target of $146.44 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Micron Technology's recent quarterly earnings report revealed $1.91 EPS, surpassing analyst expectations and driving a significant stock price increase of 6.3% following the announcement.

Virtu Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 19.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,745 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 9,965 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Micron Technology were worth $5,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MU. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,318 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 85,722 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $7,214,000 after purchasing an additional 13,985 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Micron Technology by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 18,447 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,552,000 after buying an additional 5,276 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Micron Technology by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,622 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $1,181,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Stock Up 4.1%

MU traded up $4.88 during trading on Monday, hitting $123.77. The company had a trading volume of 35,014,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,242,422. The company has a market capitalization of $138.52 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $115.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.07. Micron Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $61.54 and a one 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.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $8.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,877,251.72. This represents a 22.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 directly owned 264,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,864,415.52. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Arete Research raised Micron Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, KGI Securities downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $146.44.

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.