Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 0.8% – Should You Sell?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s stock price fell 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $88.02 and last traded at $90.55. 6,859,142 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 25,553,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $104.29 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $96.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.38.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Micron Technology news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $416,676.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Micron Technology by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,226,710 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,001,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,568 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 37,631,860 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,902,800,000 after buying an additional 206,499 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,723,545 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,451,987,000 after acquiring an additional 892,607 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Micron Technology by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,326,224 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,174,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Micron Technology by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,564,198 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,109,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.