Micron Technology's (MU) "Buy" Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reiterated a "buy" rating for Micron Technology (MU) with a price target of $150.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.55% from the stock's previous close.
• Analyst sentiment is largely positive with twenty buy ratings compared to only one sell rating, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Micron Technology reported earnings of $1.91 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, indicating strong financial performance.

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $150.00 price objective on the semiconductor manufacturer's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MU. Susquehanna raised their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $163.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. KGI Securities lowered Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Arete Research raised Micron Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.24.

Micron Technology Trading Up 0.8%

Micron Technology stock traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $125.29. The stock had a trading volume of 12,199,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,545,436. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Micron Technology has a 12 month low of $61.54 and a 12 month high of $129.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.57 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $117.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.83.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 7th. Micron Technology's payout ratio is currently 8.29%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at $33,877,251.72. The trade was a 22.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.12, for a total value of $1,876,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 148,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,538,655.04. This represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 225.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 221 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 13,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.