Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Receives Average Analyst Rating of “Moderate Buy”

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU – Get Rating) earned a consensus “moderate buy” recommendation from the twenty-eight rating agencies that cover the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts gave the stock a sell rating, four gave the company a hold rating and twenty-two gave the company a buy rating. The 12-month average target price among brokers who have hedged the stock over the past year is $86.54.

A number of research firms have commented on MU. Bank of America downgraded Micron Technology shares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut its target price for the company from $70.00 to $62.00 in a Friday, May 1 research report. July. Rosenblatt Securities cut its price target on Micron Technology shares from $165.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a Friday, July 1 research report. Wedbush cut its price target on Micron Technology shares from $120.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a Friday, July 1, report. Goldman Sachs Group cut its price target on Micron Technology shares from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a Friday, July 1, report. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 30.

Micron technology trades down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MU opened at $56.33 on Friday. The company has a debt ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a current ratio of 3.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.24. Micron Technology has a 52 week low of $51.40 and a 52 week high of $98.45. The company has a market capitalization of $62.14 billion, a PE ratio of 6.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU – Get Rating) last released its quarterly results on Thursday, June 30. The semiconductor maker reported earnings per share of $2.50 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.17. Micron Technology achieved a net margin of 30.61% and a return on equity of 21.91%. The company posted revenue of $8.64 billion in the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $8.66 billion. In the same period a year earlier, the company posted earnings of $1.81 per share. The company’s revenue increased 16.4% year over year. On average, equity research analysts expect Micron Technology to post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Increases Dividends

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 26. Investors of record on Monday July 11 received a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a dividend of $0.46 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a positive change from Micron Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 8. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, SVP Michael W. Bokan sold 16,600 shares in a trade that took place on Tuesday August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.82, for a total value of $1,059,412.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 119,126 shares of the company, valued at $7,602,621.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, accessible via the SEC’s website. 0.32% of the shares are currently held by insiders.

Institutional investors weigh in on Micron technology

Several large investors have recently changed their stake in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 84.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 27,419,458 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $2,554,123,000 after purchasing an additional 12,554,989 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter worth $1,052,794,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Micron Technology by 28.6% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,193,160 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $2,585,436,000 after acquiring an additional 7,380,205 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in Micron Technology by 558.6% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,777,963 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $636,395,000 after acquiring 5,748,883 additional shares last quarter. Finally, FIFTHDELT Ltd increased its position in Micron Technology by 288.7% in the second quarter. FIFTHDELT Ltd now owns 3,377,400 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $186,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,508,600 shares last quarter. 79.66% of the shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Company Profile

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Micron Technology, Inc designs, manufactures and sells memory and storage products worldwide. The Company operates through four segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, Storage Business Unit and Embedded Business Unit. It provides memory and storage technologies including DRAM products, which are low-latency dynamic random access memory (DRAM) semiconductor devices that enable high-speed data retrieval; NAND products that are non-volatile, rewritable semiconductor storage devices; and NOR memory products, which are non-volatile rewritable semiconductor memory devices that offer fast read speeds under the Micron and Crucial brands, as well as through private labels.

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