Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 3% – Here’s What Happened

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was down 3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $101.01 and last traded at $101.02. Approximately 5,258,933 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 21,644,889 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MU. UBS Group cut their target price on Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.04.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $109.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.86 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.94.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.21) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 93.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.65%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,666,590 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,396,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,815 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 6.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,748,381 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,681,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400,154 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,303,506 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,157,800,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Micron Technology by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,243,633 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,315,988 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.