Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 0.4% After Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $1,442,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,482.42. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $130.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.76.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $96.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.37.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. Micron Technology had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 11.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its stake in Micron Technology by 20.0% during 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 last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 3.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its position 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 increased its position in Micron Technology by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,474 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. 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.