Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 1.8% After Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares fell 1.8% on Monday 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 $88.40 and last traded at $88.51. 7,645,532 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 21,952,170 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.12.

MU has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased 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, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas cut Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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 buying an additional 2,477,985 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 21.7% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 2,022,180 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 254.4% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,859,416 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $192,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 1,233.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,430,619 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $145,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,352 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Stock Down 0.5 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.30 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 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.