Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 1.9% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) fell 1.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $92.61 and last traded at $92.75. 5,213,661 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 23,930,971 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MU shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Micron Technology Stock Down 2.3 %

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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

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

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.