Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 3.7% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded up 3.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $95.12 and last traded at $95.07. 5,406,889 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 22,949,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.68 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Micron Technology by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $8,403,982,000 after purchasing an additional 888,087 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,902,800,000 after acquiring an additional 206,499 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.