Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 10.2% - What's Next?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) dropped 10.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $63.86 and last traded at $66.79. Approximately 17,840,419 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 22,721,136 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. 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 research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $129.76.

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Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $92.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Micron Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Micron Technology by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in 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.