Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 0.7% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $96.20 and last traded at $94.29. 4,193,943 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 22,078,332 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America downgraded Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

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 $100.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.87.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Norges Bank bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after acquiring an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489,579 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,383,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,232 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.