Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Releases Q3 Earnings Guidance

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) issued an update on its third quarter earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 1.47-1.67 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.52. The company issued revenue guidance of 8.60-9.0, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $8.48 billion.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of MU traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $103.00. 25,431,783 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,733,242. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Micron Technology has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a market cap of $114.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.19.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 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 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Micron Technology stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,318 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 976 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Micron Technology were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.