Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 1.4%

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price shot up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $114.84 and last traded at $113.12. 8,272,753 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 20,394,986 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MU. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised Micron Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Micron Technology from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.20.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.85. The stock has a market cap of $127.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.79 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 8.98% and a negative net margin of 20.57%. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.03) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -13.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $593,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $66,901,175.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $593,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $66,901,175.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 268,890 shares of company stock worth $29,738,667. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Micron Technology by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,984,775 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $8,106,001,000 after purchasing an additional 755,588 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,583,348 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,927,263,000 after purchasing an additional 503,923 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 47.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,489,801,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089,790 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Micron Technology by 43.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,383,628 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,182,608,000 after acquiring an additional 5,257,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 19.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,303,400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,177,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852,688 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.