Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 1.2% - Here's Why

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $122.98 and last traded at $121.82. 20,156,669 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 23,618,207 shares. The stock had previously closed at $120.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MU. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $127.92.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The company has a market cap of $138.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $93.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.33.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The firm's revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 5,210 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.35, for a total transaction of $632,233.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 379,675 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,073,561.25. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,404 shares of company stock worth $5,572,867 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Roxbury Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 306.1% during the 1st quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors 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.