Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 4% – Here’s What Happened

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price was down 4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $66.82 and last traded at $67.28. Approximately 9,954,008 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 23,162,576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.05.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.08 and a 200-day moving average of $97.27. 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 market capitalization of $77.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,252 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,372 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,260 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,808 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its position in Micron Technology by 37.6% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,189 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 3.7% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,696 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by 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.