Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 4% Following Analyst Downgrade

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) shares traded down 4% on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $110.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Micron Technology traded as low as $66.82 and last traded at $67.28. 9,954,008 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 23,162,576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.05.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MU. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $129.36.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,458,673,000 after purchasing an additional 15,993,036 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,672,462 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,012,114,000 after buying an additional 12,249,341 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,281,620 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,370,280,000 after buying an additional 9,489,579 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,437,080 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,383,442,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375,232 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $79.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is currently 11.03%.

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.