Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 3.8% - Should You Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 3.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $87.38 and last traded at $87.37. 6,898,802 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 21,944,355 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The business's 50-day simple moving average is $99.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.69. 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 stock has a market cap of $97.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.43 and a beta of 1.16.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. Micron Technology's revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 13.26%.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 $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 is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,958 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 4,921 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 4.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,255,931 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $130,253,000 after purchasing an additional 52,912 shares during the last quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd boosted its position in Micron Technology by 25.0% during the third quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 22,945 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,380,000 after buying an additional 4,590 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 4.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,283,124 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $789,054,000 after buying an additional 321,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.2% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 13,102 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. 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.