Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) shares rose 4% on Monday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating. Morgan Stanley now has a $130.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $98.00. Micron Technology traded as high as $131.02 and last traded at $130.24. Approximately 8,045,403 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 19,540,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.29.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MU. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $103.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $126.92.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total value of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Micron Technology news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total value of $563,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,431,525.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 417,446 shares of company stock worth $47,867,783. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Micron Technology by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,817 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $940,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Micron Technology by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,975 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 56,173 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,821,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Micron Technology by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 52,284 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,557,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Micron Technology by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 23,797 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,619,000 after buying an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Micron Technology Stock Up 3.0 %

The business's 50 day moving average is $114.70 and its 200-day moving average is $93.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.74 and a beta of 1.27.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The company had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($2.03) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is -13.33%.

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.