Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 2.6% – Should You Sell?

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s share price was down 2.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $100.31 and last traded at $101.80. Approximately 19,275,679 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 20% from the average daily volume of 16,107,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.48.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Micron Technology from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.04.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $108.88 billion, a PE ratio of 144.41 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.71.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 3.10%. The firm had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.21) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 93.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 67.65%.

Insider Activity at Micron Technology

In related news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $552,570.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 66.6% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,399 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 1,759 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. purchased a new position in Micron Technology in the first quarter worth $234,000. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.3% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 27,749 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,269,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 161.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 193,549 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $22,817,000 after purchasing an additional 119,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 81.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 66,698 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $7,863,000 after purchasing an additional 29,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

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.