Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Lowered to "Hold" Rating by China Renaissance

China Renaissance cut shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $84.00 target price on the semiconductor manufacturer's stock.

MU has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America downgraded Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $129.76.

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Micron Technology Trading Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ MU traded down $2.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,071,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,873,313. 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 has a 52-week low of $83.54 and a 52-week high of $157.54. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $96.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.23.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business's revenue was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is presently 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Micron Technology news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 owns 27,358 shares of the company's stock, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,973 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Micron Technology by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,474 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $629,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

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.