Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 0.8% – Here’s Why

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was down 0.8% on Friday . The company traded as low as $67.00 and last traded at $68.80. Approximately 20,670,930 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 23,307,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.33.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.36.

Micron Technology Trading Down 0.8 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $76.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.74 and its 200 day moving average is $96.14.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Micron Technology by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $8,403,982,000 after acquiring an additional 888,087 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,052,973,000 after buying an additional 726,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.