Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Cut to “Hold” at China Renaissance

China Renaissance downgraded shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $84.00 price target on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Price Performance

MU stock opened at $88.44 on Wednesday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.37. Micron Technology has a one year low of $83.54 and a one year high of $157.54. The company has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 1,096.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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. 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.