Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 1.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shot up 1.2% on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $130.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $103.01 and last traded at $102.01. 5,179,114 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 21,813,631 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.79.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Micron Technology by 30.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,455,819 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $358,403,000 after purchasing an additional 806,639 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 12.8% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,979 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 5.7% in the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,175 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP increased its stake in Micron Technology by 609.9% in the third quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 7,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 6,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 50.6% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 5,438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 1.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $114.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

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.