Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 1.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded down 1.1% on Tuesday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $140.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $96.67 and last traded at $97.87. 5,231,272 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 21,273,275 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.91.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen increased their price target 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. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Micron Technology from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $157.12.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $5,220,767.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $109,496,781.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total transaction of $664,355.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,335,731.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $5,220,767.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $109,496,781.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 53,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,710,093 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MU. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the second quarter worth $28,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 230.7% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 248 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 128.6% in the second quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 256 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 57.2% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Trading Down 1.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $108.51 billion, a PE ratio of -68.92 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $117.57 and a 200 day moving average of $114.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 3.41.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -32.39%.

About Micron Technology

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.