Brokerages Set Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Price Target at $143.04

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and twenty-six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $143.04.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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 reduced their target price 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $172.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Thursday, September 26th.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $20,236,000 after buying an additional 40,802 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,931,811 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $227,741,000 after acquiring an additional 20,741 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in Micron Technology by 23.1% during the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,375,000 after acquiring an additional 9,735 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 9.1% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 163,272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $16,933,000 after purchasing an additional 13,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,270,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Micron Technology stock opened at $96.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $106.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.68 and a beta of 1.18. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $101.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.72. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $72.93 and a 12-month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.21) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently 67.65%.

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.