Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $140.00. The stock had previously closed at $102.85, but opened at $100.67. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $101.08, with a volume of 3,018,992 shares traded.

MU has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $882,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,700,840.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $882,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $90,700,840.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total transaction of $664,355.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,335,731.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,174 shares of company stock valued at $8,635,073. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the second quarter worth approximately $4,077,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 30.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 253,256 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $33,311,000 after acquiring an additional 59,707 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter worth $719,000. LHM Inc. boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 12.1% during the second quarter. LHM Inc. now owns 62,512 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $8,222,000 after acquiring an additional 6,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter worth $274,000. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Micron Technology Trading Down 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $118.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.25. The stock has a market cap of $112.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.43 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.14. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 7.20% and a negative return on equity of 4.01%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.57) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is -32.39%.

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.