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

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $89.87, but opened at $95.57. Micron Technology shares last traded at $98.39, with a volume of 10,425,230 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MU shares. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas cut shares of Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Up 12.3 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $112.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.38 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released 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 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,109,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,985 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 21.7% in 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 worth $1,174,643,000 after purchasing an additional 2,022,180 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 254.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,859,416 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $192,840,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,690 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 1,233.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,430,619 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $145,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,352 shares during the period. 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.