Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Up 2.1% – Should You Buy?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares shot up 2.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $104.69 and last traded at $104.25. 7,513,271 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 22,660,624 shares. The stock had previously closed at $102.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.16.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.19. The company has a market capitalization of $114.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.67 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, 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 available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $8,403,982,000 after acquiring an additional 888,087 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.