Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 3.3% on Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) dropped 3.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $88.60 and last traded at $88.17. Approximately 4,406,255 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 22,197,486 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.16.

Specifically, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MU shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America cut Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Trading Down 3.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MU. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,370,280,000 after purchasing an additional 9,489,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,383,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.