Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Receives $135.24 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $135.24.

A number of research analysts recently commented on MU shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,109,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,985 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 21.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,174,643,000 after purchasing an additional 2,022,180 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 254.4% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,859,416 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $192,840,000 after buying an additional 1,334,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1,233.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,430,619 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $145,470,000 after buying an additional 1,323,352 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

MU stock opened at $101.91 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.03. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $79.15 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The firm has a market cap of $113.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.87 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

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.