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

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose 1.2% on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $138.00 to $158.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $135.42 and last traded at $133.79. Approximately 12,267,050 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 20,530,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.23.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MU. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $144.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.52.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 53,317 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.18, for a total transaction of $6,354,320.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 319,119 shares in the company, valued at $38,032,602.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $5,220,767.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $109,496,781.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 53,317 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.18, for a total value of $6,354,320.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 319,119 shares in the company, valued at $38,032,602.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 304,840 shares of company stock valued at $37,961,924 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MU. TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 531,637 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $45,383,000 after purchasing an additional 28,649 shares in the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its position in Micron Technology by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 99,839 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $11,770,000 after purchasing an additional 5,958 shares during the period. Savoie Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,229,000. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its position in Micron Technology by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 34,540 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,736 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 176.9% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,802 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 10,096 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $145.65 billion, a PE ratio of -92.63 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $128.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.08.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 7.20% and a negative return on equity of 4.03%. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.57) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently -32.39%.

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.