Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 1.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares shot up 1.2% during trading on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $130.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $103.01 and last traded at $102.01. 5,179,114 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 21,813,631 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.79.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on MU. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays cut their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.16.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,455,819 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $358,403,000 after acquiring an additional 806,639 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,979 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,383,000 after acquiring an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,175 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 609.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 7,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 6,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 50.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 5,438 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $114.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.07.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. Micron Technology’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s 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.