The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group has increased its price target for Micron Technology's stock from $130.00 to $145.00, indicating a potential downside of 10.41% from the current price.
• Analysts' opinions on Micron Technology vary, with Susquehanna setting a new target of $200.00 and UBS raising it to $195.00, while the average target price stands at $184.77.
• Despite a 2.7% decrease in stock price during trading, Micron reported earnings per share of $1.91, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.57.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the semiconductor manufacturer's stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price target indicates a potential downside of 10.41% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. KGI Securities downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $184.77.

Micron Technology Stock Down 2.7%

NASDAQ:MU traded down $4.56 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $161.85. The stock had a trading volume of 41,168,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,029,721. 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 1-year low of $61.54 and a 1-year high of $170.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.69. The company has a market cap of $181.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.08 and a beta of 1.47.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 13,798 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 92,638 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.49, for a total transaction of $11,625,142.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 201,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,264,399.74. This trade represents a 31.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 255,946 shares of company stock worth $32,306,159. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 103,879,662 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $12,803,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973,294 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 2.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,373,591 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $6,331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,713 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,690,491 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,152,974,000 after purchasing an additional 314,489 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter worth approximately $1,980,700,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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