Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 4% After Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares were down 4% during trading on Thursday after BNP Paribas downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to an underperform rating. BNP Paribas now has a $67.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $140.00. Micron Technology traded as low as $84.12 and last traded at $87.01. Approximately 14,516,116 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 21,256,441 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.65.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $165.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $138.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total transaction of $664,355.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total value of $664,355.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,321 shares in the company, valued at $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $5,220,767.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $109,496,781.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.1% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,931,811 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $227,741,000 after purchasing an additional 20,741 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. bought a new position in Micron Technology during the second quarter worth about $4,056,000. Norden Group LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 1,916.7% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 50,134 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,910,000 after acquiring an additional 47,648 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 531,637 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $45,383,000 after acquiring an additional 28,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 6.3% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 99,839 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $11,770,000 after purchasing an additional 5,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.69. The firm has a market cap of $101.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.24 and a beta of 1.17.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.14. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 7.20% and a negative return on equity of 4.01%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.57) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is -32.39%.

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.