Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $145.00 to $110.00. The stock had previously closed at $103.90, but opened at $90.08. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $86.37, with a volume of 20,483,340 shares trading hands.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MU. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.26.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 57.2% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Micron Technology during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $100.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.53 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $103.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.67. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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