Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 256,329 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 22% compared to the average volume of 209,952 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MU shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $114.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.24.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % 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. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Davis Capital Management purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 1,096.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 261.1% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 325 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 602.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of MU stock opened at $101.91 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Micron Technology has a twelve month low of $79.15 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $98.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.03. The stock has a market cap of $113.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.87 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

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.