Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 0.5% - What's Next?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) was up 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $91.39 and last traded at $91.15. Approximately 3,414,632 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 24,576,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America cut Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $106.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. The company's revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio is 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its stake in Micron Technology by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 821 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,382 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.