Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) had its target price increased by Mizuho from $124.00 to $130.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. 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, March 21st. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays cut their target price on Micron Technology from $115.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.20.

Micron Technology Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MU opened at $108.56 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.13. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $61.54 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29 and a beta of 1.28. 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 (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $192,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,996,320. The trade was a 8.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,062,000 after acquiring an additional 8,780 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 14,178 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,264 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its position in Micron Technology by 167.0% in the 4th quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 45,758 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 28,621 shares during the period. Duquesne Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,412,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 74.6% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,936 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $222,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130,680 shares during the period. 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.