The present disclosure concerns a magnetic sensor device (100) for sensing an external magnetic field, comprising a plurality of MLU cells (1), each MLU cell (1) comprising a magnetic tunnel junction (2) including a sense layer (21) having a sense magnetization (210) freely orientable in the external magnetic field; a storage layer (23) having a storage magnetization (230); and a tunnel barrier layer (22) between the sense layer (21) and the storage layer (23); the magnetic sensor device (100) further comprising a stress inducing device (6) configured for applying an anisotropic mechanical stress on the magnetic tunnel junction (2) such as to induce a stress-induced magnetic anisotropy (271, 272) on at least one of the sense layer (21) and the storage layer (23); and the stress-induced magnetic anisotropy (271, 272) induced by the stress inducing device corresponding substantially to a net magnetic anisotropy (280) of said at least one of the sense layer (21) and the storage layer (23). The magnetic sensor device can be programmed easily and has improved sensitivity.