Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $147.24.

MU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Arete Research raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP Scott J. Deboer sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $2,200,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 186,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,498,830. This trade represents a 9.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at $33,877,251.72. This represents a 22.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,042 shares of company stock worth $34,679,277 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Duquesne Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,412,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 74.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,936 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $222,779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,680 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in Micron Technology by 195.2% during the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 15,650 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 10,348 shares during the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the first quarter worth $7,720,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Micron Technology by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,650,957 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $138,945,000 after purchasing an additional 238,687 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of Micron Technology stock opened at $124.27 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.60. Micron Technology has a 52 week low of $61.54 and a 52 week high of $129.85. The company has a market capitalization of $139.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.29%.

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.