Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $89.87, but opened at $95.57. Micron Technology shares last traded at $98.39, with a volume of 10,425,230 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $114.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.64. The company has a market capitalization of $112.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.38 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This 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 available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 261.1% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 325 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 602.2% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.