Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) had its price target lifted by Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $135.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on MU. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $125.00 price target on Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Micron Technology from $172.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.67.

Micron Technology Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:MU opened at $126.00 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70 and a beta of 1.28. Micron Technology has a 1-year low of $61.54 and a 1-year high of $137.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.83 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 13.88%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.03%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP Scott J. Deboer sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $2,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 186,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,498,830. The trade was a 9.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.12, for a total value of $1,876,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,538,655.04. The trade was a 9.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 72,404 shares of company stock valued at $8,509,167. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MU. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new position in Micron Technology in the 1st quarter worth $3,922,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 21.6% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,956,411 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $256,701,000 after purchasing an additional 525,596 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the 1st quarter worth about $57,628,000. SWS Partners boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.5% in the first quarter. SWS Partners now owns 21,529 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the period. Finally, Westbourne Investments Inc. increased its position in Micron Technology by 555.9% during the first quarter. Westbourne Investments Inc. now owns 17,590 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 14,908 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.