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

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 499,518 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 132% compared to the average volume of 215,663 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 602.2% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on MU shares. TD Cowen dropped their price target 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. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America cut shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.16.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

MU traded up $0.86 on Thursday, hitting $102.92. The company had a trading volume of 12,508,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,679,178. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.19. Micron Technology has a 1-year low of $83.54 and a 1-year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $114.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.