Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 3.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares dropped 3.4% during trading on Monday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $175.00 to $150.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $85.92 and last traded at $88.12. Approximately 7,012,819 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 21,268,990 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.22.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Micron Technology from $144.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.12.

Insider Activity

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 value of $664,355.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares in the company, valued at $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Micron Technology by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,243,633 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,315,988 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,303,506 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,157,800,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,885 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 473.8% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,649,180 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $348,447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,187,460 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 301,500.0% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,809,600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $213,334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,566,572 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $892,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,876 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $102.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 3.41. The company has a market capitalization of $98.39 billion, a PE ratio of -62.49 and a beta of 1.17.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.57) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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 $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.