Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 4.8% – Time to Sell?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price fell 4.8% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $87.63 and last traded at $88.52. 5,301,901 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 21,774,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. KGI Securities upgraded Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Trading Up 2.3 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.12 and a 200 day moving average of $98.07. 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 firm has a market cap of $99.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,442,011.83. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 75.6% in the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 241.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 41,000 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after buying an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $569,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,378 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,062,000 after acquiring an additional 8,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.