Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Micron Technology's stock price surged after Citigroup upgraded its price target from $150.00 to $175.00, opening at $147.72 and last trading at $151.30 with over 12 million shares exchanged.
• Multiple research firms have shown increasing confidence in Micron, with Zacks Research rating it a "strong-buy" and various price target adjustments indicating bullish sentiment.
• Insider trading reports revealed significant stock sales by directors, reducing their ownership stakes, alongside an institutional ownership of approximately 80.84% in Micron Technology.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $175.00. The stock had previously closed at $140.00, but opened at $147.72. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $151.30, with a volume of 12,201,097 shares traded.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MU. Zacks Research raised Micron Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $84.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Micron Technology from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $148.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.67, for a total value of $278,070.68. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,146 shares in the company, valued at $2,330,287.82. This trade represents a 10.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven J. Gomo sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.15, for a total transaction of $876,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 22,762 shares in the company, valued at $2,848,664.30. This represents a 23.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 268,446 shares of company stock worth $32,908,469. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 195.2% during the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 15,650 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 10,348 shares in the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 1st quarter valued at about $7,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,650,957 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $138,945,000 after acquiring an additional 238,687 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 255,908 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $22,236,000 after acquiring an additional 15,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TB Alternative Assets Ltd. boosted its position in Micron Technology by 331.3% in the first quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 79,788 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $6,933,000 after buying an additional 61,288 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $171.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $118.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.39.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 13.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. Micron Technology has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.350-2.650 EPS. Analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.29%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.