Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares were up 1.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $102.29 and last traded at $101.00. Approximately 5,017,911 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 21,632,182 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MU. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.04.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $106.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.68 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.65 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.21) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.65%.

Insider Activity

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&G Plc bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 1st quarter valued at $15,172,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 6.5% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 44,025 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,190,000 after buying an additional 2,701 shares during the last quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $258,000. TIAA Trust National Association bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $327,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 487.7% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 132,882 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,660,000 after acquiring an additional 110,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.