Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 17.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded down 17.5% on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $145.00 to $110.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $85.00 and last traded at $85.75. 42,447,487 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 96% from the average session volume of 21,693,350 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.90.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MU. Citigroup lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 30.7% during the third quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,958 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 4,921 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,255,931 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $130,253,000 after buying an additional 52,912 shares during the period. Dantai Capital Ltd lifted its position in Micron Technology by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 22,945 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,380,000 after acquiring an additional 4,590 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,283,124 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $789,054,000 after acquiring an additional 321,955 shares during the period. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in Micron Technology by 3.2% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 13,102 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Trading Up 3.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.53 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $103.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

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.