Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Short Interest Up 27.9% in December

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 42,300,000 shares, an increase of 27.9% from the December 15th total of 33,080,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 21,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Micron Technology by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,904 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,141 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Micron Technology by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,291 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,591 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $997,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Micron Technology by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,916 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in Micron Technology by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ MU traded up $3.15 on Friday, hitting $105.75. 18,832,956 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,325,942. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $98.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology has a twelve month low of $79.15 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. Analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.24.

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.