BNP Paribas Downgrades Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) to Underperform

BNP Paribas lowered shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) from an outperform rating to an underperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $67.00 price objective on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $140.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on MU. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $145.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $138.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Micron Technology from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $152.31.

Micron Technology Price Performance

Shares of MU opened at $91.22 on Thursday. Micron Technology has a twelve month low of $63.83 and a twelve month high of $157.54. The company has a market capitalization of $101.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.24 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $104.18 and a 200 day moving average of $114.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.14. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.57) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently -32.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,496,781.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total value of $5,220,767.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 719,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,496,781.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 1.1% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,931,811 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $227,741,000 after buying an additional 20,741 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. purchased a new stake in Micron Technology in the second quarter worth $4,056,000. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1,916.7% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 50,134 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,910,000 after purchasing an additional 47,648 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 531,637 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $45,383,000 after purchasing an additional 28,649 shares during the period. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 6.3% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 99,839 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $11,770,000 after purchasing an additional 5,958 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.