Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 1.1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded up 1.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $97.13 and last traded at $96.07. 5,345,631 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 26,757,629 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MU. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America lowered Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James increased their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $114.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.21 and its 200-day moving average is $102.66.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MU. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in Micron Technology by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,174,643,000 after buying an additional 2,022,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,109,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,985 shares during the period. 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.