Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 499,518 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 132% compared to the typical volume of 215,663 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, KGI Securities raised shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.16.

Micron Technology Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ MU traded up $0.86 during trading on Thursday, reaching $102.92. 12,508,000 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,679,178. Micron Technology has a fifty-two week low of $83.54 and a fifty-two week high of $157.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $114.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $96.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.19.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,455,819 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $358,403,000 after purchasing an additional 806,639 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 1,485.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,243 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 7,723 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 1.1% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 208,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $21,643,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,422 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,118,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by 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.