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

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $120.00. The stock had previously closed at $103.00, but opened at $98.20. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology shares last traded at $95.96, with a volume of 17,365,194 shares.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MU. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KGI Securities raised shares of Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 75.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its holdings in 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 worth $4,252,000 after acquiring an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 31.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC bought a new stake in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $569,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 worth $5,001,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Micron Technology Stock Down 8.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.21.

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

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

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.