Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 4.1% - Still a Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) shares shot up 4.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $76.21 and last traded at $75.89. 8,955,524 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 23,198,252 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, China Renaissance lowered shares of Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $128.56.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $85.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $89.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm's revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MU. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in Micron Technology by 583.3% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 410 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 350 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.