Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 1% – Should You Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose 1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $113.15 and last traded at $112.99. Approximately 4,292,257 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 21,752,850 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MU. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Micron Technology from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.04.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $99.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 166.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.21) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 93.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 67.65%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Micron Technology by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 27,749 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,269,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Aspect Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 39.8% in the 2nd quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 330 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,625 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E&G Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 5.2% during the second quarter. E&G Advisors LP now owns 2,015 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.