Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 0.4% on Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares fell 0.4% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $89.61 and last traded at $91.76. 6,241,879 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 22,254,826 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.13.

Specifically, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MU. Royal Bank of Canada set a $125.00 target price on Micron Technology in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $98.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.00 and a 200-day moving average of $98.37. 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) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. 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 previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.03%.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Xcel Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 3.8% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC lifted its position in Micron Technology by 1.5% during 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. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.