Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 1.6% After Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares dropped 1.6% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $87.58 and last traded at $88.37. Approximately 4,909,996 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 21,897,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.82.

Specifically, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MU. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $98.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.34 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $101.17 and its 200-day moving average is $107.02. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Micron Technology in the 2nd quarter worth $230,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its position in Micron Technology by 23.1% during the second quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,381 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Micron Technology during the second quarter valued at about $474,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Micron Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $339,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.