Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 3.1% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded down 3.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $87.35 and last traded at $91.16. 11,226,724 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 23,141,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MU. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Micron Technology from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $96.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.77. 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 stock has a market cap of $102.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43 and a beta of 1.18.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 6.29 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,223 shares in the company, valued at $15,442,011.83. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Micron Technology by 219.6% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,290 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 3,635 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 8.2% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the third quarter worth approximately $136,000. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,774 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $16,751,000 after acquiring an additional 12,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 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.