Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 1.2% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $138.00 to $158.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $135.42 and last traded at $133.79. 12,267,050 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 20,530,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.23.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.52.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.09, for a total transaction of $854,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 743,557 shares in the company, valued at $90,780,874.13. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael W. Bokan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.42, for a total value of $1,851,300.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 138,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,079,723.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.09, for a total transaction of $854,630.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 743,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,780,874.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 304,840 shares of company stock valued at $37,961,924 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,666,590 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $11,396,024,000 after buying an additional 1,681,815 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 6.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,748,381 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,681,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400,154 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,583,348 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,927,263,000 after purchasing an additional 503,923 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,303,506 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,157,800,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,243,633 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,150,743,000 after buying an additional 3,315,988 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $127.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market cap of $146.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -94.22 and a beta of 1.21.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 7.20% and a negative return on equity of 4.03%. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.57) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 8th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -32.39%.

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.