Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 4.7% – Time to Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price was up 4.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $102.78 and last traded at $99.37. Approximately 11,729,651 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 21,880,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MU shares. Mizuho dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America downgraded Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.56.

Micron Technology Stock Up 6.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.04. The stock has a market cap of $112.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 602.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 1,096.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 114.9% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Micron Technology

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.