Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 0.8% – What’s Next?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) fell 0.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $88.23 and last traded at $89.00. 5,293,474 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 21,962,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.72.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MU. BNP Paribas lowered Micron Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.24.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $99.47 billion, a PE ratio of 131.30 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.66. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,109,769,000 after buying an additional 2,477,985 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 21.7% during the third 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 valued at $1,174,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022,180 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% in 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. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 254.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,859,416 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $192,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1,233.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,430,619 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $145,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,352 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.