Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 7.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was down 7.7% on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $120.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $94.06 and last traded at $95.11. Approximately 25,298,804 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 22,697,759 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MU. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 75.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% in the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,062,000 after purchasing an additional 8,780 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,434,568 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $105.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $96.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.28.

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

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.03%.

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.