Morgan Stanley Cuts Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Price Target to $98.00

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $114.00 to $98.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.24.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MU stock opened at $90.12 on Thursday. Micron Technology has a 12-month low of $79.15 and a 12-month high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.53 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.54.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.19. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,348,790. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

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