Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 12.6% - Time to Sell?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) were down 12.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $77.39 and last traded at $77.47. Approximately 13,873,844 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 22,685,128 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.60.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MU has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Micron Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America downgraded Micron Technology from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $129.76.

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Micron Technology Trading Down 4.1 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $92.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.09. The stock has a market cap of $73.25 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. 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 company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Micron Technology's payout ratio is 11.03%.

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 dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $223,403.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,857,205 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $8,403,982,000 after buying an additional 888,087 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 12,249,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,096,391 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,458,673,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993,036 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,449,827 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,052,973,000 after buying an additional 726,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,470,875,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.84% of the company's stock.

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.