Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $112.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on MU. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.63.

Micron Technology Trading Down 8.0 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $94.72 on Friday. Micron Technology has a twelve month low of $83.54 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.34. 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 company has a market capitalization of $105.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 4.2% during the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,973 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,688,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.