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

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) gapped down prior to trading on Monday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $140.00. The stock had previously closed at $102.85, but opened at $100.67. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $101.08, with a volume of 3,018,992 shares.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $138.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $157.12.

Insider Activity

In other Micron Technology news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $882,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,700,840.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 directly owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total value of $882,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 719,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,700,840.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 53,174 shares of company stock worth $7,710,093 over the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,757 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $662,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 21,382 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 77,854 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter valued at about $230,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $117.57 and a 200-day moving average of $114.35. 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 market cap of $108.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.92 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 81.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.57) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s 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.