Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 11.4% – Should You Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose 11.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $100.21 and last traded at $100.09. Approximately 20,129,801 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 17,914,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MU. Raymond James boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Price Performance

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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.19 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 4.2% in the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 821 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,382 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 5.3% in the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,357 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.