Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on MU. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $112.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $129.00.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Micron Technology stock traded down $0.58 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $115.60. The company had a trading volume of 17,402,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,689,160. The company has a market capitalization of $129.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.31 and a beta of 1.28. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $61.54 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $88.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. Micron Technology's quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Scott J. Deboer sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $2,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 186,353 shares in the company, valued at $20,498,830. This trade represents a 9.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,904 shares of company stock valued at $4,665,124 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MU. Xcel Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,973 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 3,018 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cim Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

About Micron Technology

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.