Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 1.4% - Here's Why

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $122.50 and last traded at $122.74. 7,359,086 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 23,253,067 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Micron Technology from $172.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Micron Technology from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $146.21.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $105.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.26. The firm has a market cap of $136.80 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 8.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In related news, Director Steven J. Gomo sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.15, for a total transaction of $876,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,762 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,848,664.30. This represents a 23.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total transaction of $9,852,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,446 shares of company stock worth $31,154,717. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,906,368 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $8,854,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049,163 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,012,114,000 after purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,052,973,000 after acquiring an additional 726,282 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $1,470,875,000. 80.84% of the stock is 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.

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