Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 5.7% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose 5.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $98.22 and last traded at $98.51. Approximately 7,651,641 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 22,155,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MU. Barclays cut their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Trading Up 4.8 %

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 $108.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.16 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $95.71 and a 200-day moving average of $98.93.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.95) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Infinitum Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $6,733,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $215,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 25,054 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. Chokshi & Queen Wealth Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $631,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth approximately $116,000. Institutional investors 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.