Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 3.1% Higher – Should You Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s stock price rose 3.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $100.70 and last traded at $98.61. Approximately 8,651,269 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 22,845,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.66.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America lowered Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.70. The firm has a market cap of $110.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46 and a beta of 1.18. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pingora Partners LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 704.0% in the 4th quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 2,816 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 213,433 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $17,963,000 after purchasing an additional 83,718 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,430,815 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $204,445,000 after purchasing an additional 778,618 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 58,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,899,000 after purchasing an additional 13,161 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,240,803 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $104,426,000 after buying an additional 105,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.