Pacer Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has reduced its holdings in Micron Technology by 23.2% during the first quarter, owning 111,938 shares worth approximately $9.73 million at the end of the quarter.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Micron Technology, with Brighton Jones LLC and Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raising their positions by 18.3% and 19.5%, respectively.
• Micron Technology reported an EPS of $1.91 for the recent quarter, exceeding estimates, and has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.115, yielding 0.41% annually.

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) by 23.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 111,938 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 33,778 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $9,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MU. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,012,114,000 after acquiring an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,052,973,000 after acquiring an additional 726,282 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,383,442,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375,232 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,370,280,000 after buying an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $84.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $146.44.

Micron Technology Trading Down 4.2%

MU traded down $4.83 on Thursday, hitting $109.91. The company had a trading volume of 14,152,294 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,201,762. The firm has a market cap of $123.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company's fifty day moving average price is $113.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.84. Micron Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.54 and a 1 year high of $129.85.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 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 business had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders 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 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 7th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, CFO Mark J. Murphy sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.32, for a total value of $3,716,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 264,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,864,415.52. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 92,638 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.49, for a total value of $11,625,142.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 201,326 shares in the company, valued at $25,264,399.74. This trade represents a 31.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 288,446 shares of company stock valued at $34,871,597. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.