Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 1.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shot up 1.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $89.92 and last traded at $88.38. 6,850,717 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 21,821,975 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.08.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MU. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.56.

Micron Technology Trading Down 0.8 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $96.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34 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.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company’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 posted ($0.95) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in Micron Technology by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after buying an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,383,442,000 after buying an additional 4,375,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.