Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading 0.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares shot up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $96.64 and last traded at $94.61. 9,298,330 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 22,320,298 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.18.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MU. KGI Securities upgraded Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.96.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $102.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48 and a beta of 1.23. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.45.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 602.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1,096.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 114.9% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.