Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 1.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) dropped 1.9% during trading on Wednesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $145.00 to $135.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $100.32 and last traded at $100.58. Approximately 6,525,691 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 22,260,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $102.54.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MU. UBS Group decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $138.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 22.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,243,633 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,150,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,315,988 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Micron Technology by 15.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,303,506 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,157,800,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,885 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 473.8% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,649,180 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $348,447,000 after buying an additional 2,187,460 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 301,500.0% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,809,600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $213,334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Micron Technology by 28.9% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,566,572 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $892,023,000 after buying an additional 1,695,876 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Stock Down 1.6 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.65 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 7.20% and a negative return on equity of 4.01%. Micron Technology’s revenue was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.21) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is -32.39%.

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.