Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 10.2% – Time to Sell?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares traded down 10.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $63.86 and last traded at $66.79. 17,840,419 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 22,721,136 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MU has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, China Renaissance cut Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Trading Down 12.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $72.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $93.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in Micron Technology during the third quarter worth $600,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 113.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,291 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Micron Technology during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,932,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 129,715 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $13,453,000 after purchasing an additional 49,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,774 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,311 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.