Micron Technology Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MU)

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 499,518 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 132% compared to the average volume of 215,663 call options.

Micron Technology Stock Down 8.0 %

MU opened at $94.72 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market cap of $105.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23. Micron Technology has a 52 week low of $83.54 and a 52 week high of $157.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Micron Technology news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harmony Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 75.6% during the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its position in Micron Technology by 241.7% during the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,252,000 after buying an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Micron Technology by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,062,000 after buying an additional 8,780 shares in the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after buying an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.63.

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.