Micron Technology Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MU)

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 499,518 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 132% compared to the average volume of 215,663 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MU. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $132.63.

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Micron Technology Trading Down 8.0 %

Micron Technology stock traded down $8.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $94.72. The company had a trading volume of 63,123,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,501,008. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $83.54 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.28. The firm has a market cap of $105.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The company 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%. Micron Technology's revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,012,114,000 after buying an additional 12,249,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Micron Technology by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,383,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,232 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Company Profile

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.