Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.12

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.115 per share by the semiconductor manufacturer on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Micron Technology has raised its dividend by an average of 32.0% annually over the last three years. Micron Technology has a dividend payout ratio of 4.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Micron Technology to earn $10.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.46 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.3%.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ MU opened at $94.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.82 and a 200 day moving average of $98.21. 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 twelve month low of $83.54 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Micron Technology stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) by 18.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,318 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing 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 reporting period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KGI Securities upgraded Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.63.

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.