Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 3% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Micron Technology's stock price fell 3% during mid-day trading, reaching a low of $154.65 before last trading at $156.83.
• Several analysts have raised their target prices for Micron, with estimates ranging from $145 to $220, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Micron announced a quarterly dividend of $0.115 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.3%, to be paid on October 21st.

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) dropped 3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $154.65 and last traded at $156.83. Approximately 32,095,095 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 38% from the average daily volume of 23,174,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush increased their target price on Micron Technology from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Micron Technology from $173.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Micron Technology from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Micron Technology from $185.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $184.77.

Micron Technology Trading Down 3.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $175.51 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.47. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $126.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 1.89.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.83 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 17.69%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Micron Technology news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 13,798 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.20, for a total value of $2,238,035.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,148 shares in the company, valued at $52,739,005.60. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total transaction of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 275,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,877,251.72. This trade represents a 22.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,946 shares of company stock valued at $32,306,159 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 225.0% in the second quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 221 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 13,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthCollab LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 4,500.0% during the 2nd quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 276 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company's stock.

Micron Technology Company Profile

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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