Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 2% – Here’s Why

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price rose 2% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $88.55 and last traded at $88.61. Approximately 5,299,141 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 22,799,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MU. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 target price on Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.76.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $94.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.42. 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 firm has a market cap of $99.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 583.3% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 410 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.