Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 1.9% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shot up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $101.48 and last traded at $100.00. 5,358,540 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 21,255,873 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp dropped 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.04.

Micron Technology Trading Up 4.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $114.19 billion, a PE ratio of 148.13 and a beta of 1.16. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.87.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Trading of Micron Technology

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 75.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% in the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $20,236,000 after acquiring an additional 40,802 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,375,000 after acquiring an additional 9,735 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.