Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 0.5% on Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) traded down 0.5% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $117.08 and last traded at $118.19. 9,921,241 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 18,589,789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.80.

Specifically, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.13, for a total value of $574,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 651,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,528,966.67. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 264,000 shares of company stock worth $26,368,640. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Micron Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Micron Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Micron Technology from $95.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.69.

Micron Technology Stock Down 1.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.65.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned ($2.03) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently -13.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Micron Technology by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,984,775 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $8,106,001,000 after buying an additional 755,588 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,193,578 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,915,277,000 after purchasing an additional 282,292 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,583,348 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,927,263,000 after purchasing an additional 503,923 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Micron Technology by 47.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,489,801,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Micron Technology by 1.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,348,845 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,225,181,000 after buying an additional 253,179 shares during the last quarter. 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.