Micron Technology Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MU)

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 268,132 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 31% compared to the typical daily volume of 204,537 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MU shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1,096.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 602.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Up 0.7 %

MU opened at $91.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $101.61 billion, a PE ratio of 26.28 and a beta of 1.18. Micron Technology has a twelve month low of $83.54 and a twelve month high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.26%.

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.