Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $134.96.

Several analysts recently issued reports on MU shares. Bank of America lowered Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. KGI Securities raised shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, TD Cowen 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 research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harmony Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 75.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after acquiring an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $20,236,000 after acquiring an additional 40,802 shares during the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Price Performance

MU stock opened at $97.71 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $108.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.16 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $95.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.92. Micron Technology has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given 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 yield of 0.47%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 13.26%.

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.