Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 2% – Should You Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares shot up 2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $88.55 and last traded at $88.61. 5,299,141 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 22,799,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.42.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently 11.03%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the third quarter worth approximately $600,000. Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter worth $1,544,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 337.1% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 10,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 8,260 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 6.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,516,256 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $157,243,000 after purchasing an additional 91,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 36,759 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,812,000 after purchasing an additional 5,662 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.