Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 2.8% – Here’s Why

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price traded up 2.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $92.66 and last traded at $91.54. 9,228,889 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 26,110,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Trading Down 1.4 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $101.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50-day moving average is $97.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.07.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,174,643,000 after buying an additional 2,022,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,109,769,000 after buying an additional 2,477,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.