Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 256,329 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 22% compared to the typical volume of 209,952 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MU has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas lowered Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Micron Technology stock traded up $11.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $100.90. 26,450,905 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,092,410. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.61. The firm has a market cap of $112.42 billion, a PE ratio of 148.38 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology has a twelve month low of $79.15 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. Micron Technology’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 48,012 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 286,363 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $24,327,000 after purchasing an additional 16,622 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Micron Technology by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,900 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after acquiring an additional 3,040 shares during the period. NRI Wealth Management LC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,010,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,894 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,295 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Company 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.