The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a "neutral" rating and a $130.00 price target on the semiconductor manufacturer's stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price target suggests a potential upside of 5.60% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MU. China Renaissance lowered Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wedbush raised their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $146.44.

Micron Technology Stock Up 0.7%

Micron Technology stock traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $123.11. The stock had a trading volume of 15,340,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,280,145. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.75. Micron Technology has a fifty-two week low of $61.54 and a fifty-two week high of $136.43. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $106.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 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 business had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.28, for a total transaction of $291,557.12. Following the sale, the director directly owned 22,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,734,864. This trade represents a 9.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,877,251.72. The trade was a 22.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,446 shares of company stock worth $31,154,717. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the first quarter worth $33,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Micron Technology by 100.0% in the first quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

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.