Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 1.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price was up 1.2% on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $130.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $103.01 and last traded at $102.01. Approximately 5,179,114 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 21,813,631 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.79.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.16.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after purchasing an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,383,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $96.80 and a 200-day moving average of $98.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company 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 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

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.