Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 4.1% - Time to Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) shares rose 4.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $76.21 and last traded at $75.89. Approximately 8,955,524 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 23,198,252 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MU. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $128.56.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $87.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.82. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business 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 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Micron Technology by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 583.3% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 410 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. 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.