Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded Micron Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $126.48.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MU opened at $93.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $104.35 billion, a PE ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.21. Micron Technology has a one year low of $61.54 and a one year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company's fifty day moving average price is $82.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.48.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,808 shares of company stock valued at $1,858,424. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors grew 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 valued at $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after acquiring an additional 12,249,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 139.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,370,280,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,383,442,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375,232 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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