Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 0.4% on Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares dropped 0.4% on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $145.00 to $110.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $83.54 and last traded at $86.72. Approximately 15,771,937 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 21,870,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.09.

MU has been the topic of several other research reports. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,348,790. The trade was a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,109,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,985 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,174,643,000 after purchasing an additional 2,022,180 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 254.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,859,416 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $192,840,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 1,233.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,430,619 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $145,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,352 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Stock Up 3.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a PE ratio of 132.53 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $103.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.64.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

Micron Technology Company Profile

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.