Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 0.8%

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $124.78 and last traded at $123.56. 4,842,448 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 20,091,105 shares. The stock had previously closed at $122.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $78.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Micron Technology from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.20.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $101.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.84 billion, a PE ratio of -35.30 and a beta of 1.27.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($2.03) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is -13.33%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $611,870.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 642,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,139,159.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $611,870.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 642,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,139,159.91. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 306,890 shares of company stock valued at $32,772,127 over the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.