Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 0.4% on Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price fell 0.4% on Friday 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 $83.54 and last traded at $86.72. 15,771,937 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 21,870,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.09.

MU has been the subject of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,902,800,000 after purchasing an additional 206,499 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,451,987,000 after buying an additional 892,607 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,174,643,000 after buying an additional 2,022,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,109,769,000 after buying an additional 2,477,985 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Price Performance

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

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

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