Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $150.00. The stock had previously closed at $123.58, but opened at $129.05. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $124.62, with a volume of 8,533,992 shares traded.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MU. Raymond James increased their price target on Micron Technology from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Micron Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $5,850,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 728,557 shares in the company, valued at $94,712,410. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $5,850,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 728,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,712,410. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 306,890 shares of company stock worth $32,496,327 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $135.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.54 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $97.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.06.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 8.98% and a negative net margin of 20.57%. The business’s revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.03) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently -13.33%.

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.