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

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $120.00. The stock had previously closed at $103.00, but opened at $98.20. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $95.96, with a volume of 17,365,194 shares trading hands.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MU. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.63.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 2,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,973 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.82 and a 200 day moving average of $98.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 11.03%.

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.