Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 3% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose 3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $103.68 and last traded at $101.50. Approximately 10,865,945 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 21,377,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas cut Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.04.

Micron Technology Trading Up 2.3 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $103.60 and its 200 day moving average is $111.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $112.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.27 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.65%.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. The trade was a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MU. State Street Corp increased its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third 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. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 21.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,174,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 30.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,109,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,985 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.