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

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 256,329 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 22% compared to the average daily volume of 209,952 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 13,028 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 10.6% in the second quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 10,089 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after buying an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 414.3% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 540 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 13.7% in the second quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 10,157.2% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 266,585 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 263,986 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group decreased 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MU traded up $11.03 on Monday, hitting $100.90. 26,450,905 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,092,410. Micron Technology has a 1-year low of $79.15 and a 1-year high of $157.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $99.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.38 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.