KGI Securities Upgrades Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) to “Strong-Buy”

KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MU. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $160.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Micron Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $184.77.

Micron Technology Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of MU opened at $156.83 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $127.44 and its 200 day moving average is $107.55. Micron Technology has a fifty-two week low of $61.54 and a fifty-two week high of $170.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.51 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.52.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 17.21%. The business had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 8.29%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total transaction of $9,852,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at $33,877,251.72. This represents a 22.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark J. Murphy sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.32, for a total transaction of $3,716,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 264,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,864,415.52. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 156,308 shares of company stock worth $19,804,967. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 225.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 221 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 13,250.0% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 4,500.0% during the second quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 276 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.