Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 2.3% – What’s Next?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $67.00 and last traded at $67.75. Approximately 6,076,214 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 23,260,744 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MU. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.36.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.23 and a 200-day moving average of $95.92. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $76.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly 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. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MU. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $8,403,982,000 after acquiring an additional 888,087 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Micron Technology by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,052,973,000 after buying an additional 726,282 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $1,470,875,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.