Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Up 2.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s stock price traded up 2.2% during trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $185.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as high as $126.40 and last traded at $126.40. 7,132,408 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 23,137,031 shares. The stock had previously closed at $123.72.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mark J. Murphy sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.32, for a total value of $3,716,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 264,036 shares in the company, valued at $28,864,415.52. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total transaction of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 275,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,877,251.72. This trade represents a 22.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 225.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 221 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 13,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 259.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 356 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.3%

The company has a market cap of $142.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $116.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.42.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 13.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently 8.29%.

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.