Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at China Renaissance

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) was downgraded by equities research analysts at China Renaissance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $84.00 price target on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock. China Renaissance’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 7.85% from the stock’s current price.

MU has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.96.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ MU opened at $91.16 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $101.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.27 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.36. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $83.54 and a 12-month high of $157.54.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Micron Technology by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $8,403,982,000 after buying an additional 888,087 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,052,973,000 after purchasing an additional 726,282 shares during the period. 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.