Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $69.55, but opened at $74.67. Micron Technology shares last traded at $72.47, with a volume of 8,011,623 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.36.

Micron Technology Trading Up 0.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $79.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.57.

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

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is presently 11.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 34.6% in the fourth 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 raised its stake in Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,052,973,000 after purchasing an additional 726,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at $1,470,875,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.