Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 1.1% - What's Next?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $79.10 and last traded at $78.24. 6,645,838 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 23,200,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MU shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $128.56.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $89.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $85.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.82. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.93 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 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the first quarter worth $33,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 306.1% during the 1st quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 300 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.