Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Short Interest Update

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 42,300,000 shares, an increase of 27.9% from the December 15th total of 33,080,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 21,550,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insider Activity

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MU. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% during the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its stake in Micron Technology by 241.7% during the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,252,000 after buying an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 26.4% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 195,115 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $20,236,000 after acquiring an additional 40,802 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 51,832 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $5,375,000 after purchasing an additional 9,735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MU shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $114.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $148.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $135.24.

Micron Technology Price Performance

MU stock traded up $3.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $105.75. The company had a trading volume of 18,832,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,325,942. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $97.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.48. The company has a market capitalization of $117.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology has a 1 year low of $79.15 and a 1 year high of $157.54. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. Micron Technology's revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 13.26%.

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.