Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 3% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose 3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $103.20 and last traded at $101.21. Approximately 10,329,012 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 21,240,842 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MU shares. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Micron Technology from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.04.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $113.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.13 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $103.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.21) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 93.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dantai Capital Ltd increased its stake in Micron Technology by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 22,945 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,380,000 after acquiring an additional 4,590 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Micron Technology by 4.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,283,124 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $789,054,000 after purchasing an additional 321,955 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in Micron Technology by 3.2% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 13,102 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 58.8% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 21,859 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after buying an additional 8,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 106,840 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $11,080,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.