Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 4.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) shot up 4.2% during trading on Thursday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $124.00 to $130.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $108.44 and last traded at $107.57. 10,657,293 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 23,494,473 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.25.

MU has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. China Renaissance cut shares of Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wedbush reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $128.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $192,320.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,954 shares in the company, valued at $1,996,320. This represents a 8.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,062,000 after purchasing an additional 8,780 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 14,178 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,264 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 167.0% in the 4th quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 45,758 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 28,621 shares in the last quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $34,412,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 74.6% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,936 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $222,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130,680 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average price is $83.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29 and a beta of 1.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Micron Technology's revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 11.03%.

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.