Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after BNP Paribas downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to an underperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $90.65, but opened at $87.10. BNP Paribas now has a $67.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $140.00. Micron Technology shares last traded at $85.33, with a volume of 7,252,322 shares changing hands.
Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MU. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $138.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $165.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $160.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.31.
Insider Activity
In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total value of $664,355.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares in the company, valued at $19,335,731.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.86, for a total value of $664,355.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,335,731.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 34,284 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $5,220,767.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 719,049 shares in the company, valued at $109,496,781.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MU. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 230.7% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 248 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Micron Technology by 128.6% in the 2nd quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 256 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company’s stock.
Micron Technology Price Performance
The firm has a market cap of $96.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.27 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $105.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.87.
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 4.01% and a negative net margin of 7.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 81.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.57) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Micron Technology Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently -32.39%.
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.