Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 5.5% Higher - What's Next?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 5.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $96.05 and last traded at $93.96. 9,171,565 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 21,862,434 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MU. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company 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 given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $134.56.

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Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $112.79 billion, a PE ratio of 29.54 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $96.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.04.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. Micron Technology's revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.115 dividend. 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 0.45%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

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 on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $8,403,982,000 after purchasing an additional 888,087 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% during the 3rd 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 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.

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