Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU – Get Rating) has an average “Buy” recommendation from the thirty-two analysts who currently cover the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One financial analyst gave the stock a sell rating, five issued a hold rating, twenty gave the company a buy rating and one gave the company a high buy rating. The 1-year average price target among analysts who have reported on the stock in the past year is $112.17.

MU has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on Micron Technology by $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a Tuesday, Dec. 21 report. Goldman Sachs Group raised its price target on Micron technology from $101.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a Monday, January 10 report. Credit Suisse Group raised its price target on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a Tuesday, Dec. 21 report. Wedbush upgraded Micron Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “outperforming” rating and raised its price target for the company from $100.00 to $120.00 in a Monday, February 14, report. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a target price of $115.00 on Micron Technology shares in a Monday, November 22 report.

In other news, Executive Vice President Scott J. Deboer sold 15,000 shares of the company in a trade on Wednesday, Dec. 22. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,350,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available on the SEC’s website. Additionally, SVP April S. Arnzen sold 8,300 shares of the company in a trade on Monday, December 20. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.09, for a total value of $681,347.00. The disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 240,673 shares of the company worth $22,973,742 in the past 90 days. Insiders own 0.32% of the shares of the company.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently increased or reduced their stakes in the stock. AXA SA increased its position in Micron Technology by 45.0% during the third quarter. AXA SA now owns 861,094 shares of the semiconductor maker valued at $61,120,000 after buying an additional 267,170 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Micron Technology shares by 98.6% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,223,742 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $159,176,000 after buying an additional 1,104,129 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in Micron Technology shares by 5.3% in the third quarter. The National Pension Service now owns 1,744,336 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $123,813,000 after buying 87,829 more shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Micron Technology shares by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 26,359 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $2,462,000 after buying an additional 10,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JustInvest LLC increased its position in Micron Technology shares by 110.8% in the third quarter. JustInvest LLC now owns 25,495 shares of the semiconductor maker worth $1,810,000 after buying an additional 13,402 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the shares are held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NASDAQ:MU shares opened at $72.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $81.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.10 and a quick ratio of 2.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.67 and a two-hundred-day moving average of $80.73. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $65.67 and a 12-month high of $98.45.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU – Get Rating) last reported results on Monday, December 20. The semiconductor maker reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.16 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $2.11 by $0.05. Micron Technology achieved a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 24.86%. The company posted revenue of $7.69 billion in the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. In the same quarter last year, the company earned earnings per share of $0.71. The company’s revenue for the quarter increased by 33.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect Micron Technology to post earnings per share of 8.67 for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 18. Investors of record on Monday, January 3 received a dividend of $0.10. This represents a dividend of $0.40 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 31. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 6.17%.

Micron Technology Company Profile (Get an assessment)

Micron Technology, Inc is committed to providing innovative memory and storage solutions. It operates through the following segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit (CNBU), Mobile Business Unit (MBU), Storage Business Unit (SBU) and Embedded Business Unit (EBU). The CNBU segment includes memory products sold in the cloud server, enterprise, client, graphics and networking markets.

Featured articles

This instant alert was powered by MarketBeat’s narrative science technology and financial data to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reports. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat’s editorial team prior to publication. Please send questions or comments about this story to [email protected]

Should you invest $1,000 in Micron Technology right now?

Before you consider Micron technology, you’ll want to hear this.

MarketBeat tracks Wall Street’s top-rated, top-performing research analysts daily and the stocks they recommend to their clients. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the market takes off…and Micron Technology wasn’t on the list.

Although Micron Technology currently has a “Buy” rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

See the 5 actions here