Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 2.1% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Micron Technology's stock price rose by 2.1% to $167.32 amidst a trading session where volume was down by 14% compared to daily average.
• Multiple analysts have increased their price targets for Micron Technology, with targets ranging from $180 to $250 and an overall average rating of "Buy."
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.115 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of 6.06%.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $168.95 and last traded at $167.32. Approximately 20,000,185 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 23,181,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MU shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Arete Research raised shares of Micron Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $184.77.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm's 50-day moving average price is $129.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.52. The stock has a market cap of $187.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.47.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is presently 6.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard M. Beyer sold 5,552 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.68, for a total transaction of $864,335.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 96,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,950,106.08. The trade was a 5.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 13,798 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.20, for a total transaction of $2,238,035.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 325,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,739,005.60. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 79,456 shares of company stock worth $10,524,945. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,980,700,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the first quarter worth about $369,191,000. Slate Path Capital LP purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the second quarter worth about $317,751,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Micron Technology by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,906,368 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $8,854,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049,163 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Micron Technology by 23.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,616,488 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $922,467,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038,641 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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