Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Up 5.9% - Here's Why

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) were up 5.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $105.05 and last traded at $105.39. Approximately 9,407,942 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 22,819,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MU shares. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Stock Down 4.3 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $96.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.70. The company has a market capitalization of $110.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.47 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Micron Technology by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $8,403,982,000 after purchasing an additional 888,087 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after buying an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after buying an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

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.