Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) had its price objective reduced by Needham & Company LLC from $140.00 to $120.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MU. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of Micron Technology stock opened at $90.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.64. Micron Technology has a 52-week low of $79.15 and a 52-week high of $157.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $103.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.53 and a beta of 1.16.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 13.26%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,348,790. The trade was a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Micron Technology by 42.5% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,299 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 12,364 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 5.6% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,955 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Micron Technology by 12.1% during the second quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,688 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 17.2% during the second quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,943 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.