Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) Announces $0.12 Quarterly Dividend

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of 0.115 per share by the semiconductor manufacturer on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th.

Micron Technology has a payout ratio of 5.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Micron Technology to earn $12.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.46 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.7%.

Micron Technology Trading Down 16.2 %

MU traded down $16.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.09. 91,219,273 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,904,396. The company's fifty day moving average price is $103.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.02 billion, a PE ratio of 128.08 and a beta of 1.16. Micron Technology has a fifty-two week low of $78.63 and a fifty-two week high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.64.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The company's revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $180.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $114.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $133.56.

Insider Transactions at Micron Technology

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.