Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 0.7% – Still a Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s stock price rose 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $98.12 and last traded at $96.31. Approximately 7,317,462 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 21,863,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MU. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.56.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $112.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.05 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average is $96.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.05.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stonebrook Private Inc. boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Xcel Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,973 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.