Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Trading Down 0.4% on Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $113.70 and last traded at $115.92. 7,276,572 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 20,119,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.33.

Specifically, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total transaction of $563,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $63,431,525.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total transaction of $563,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,557 shares in the company, valued at $63,431,525.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 148,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 313,890 shares of company stock worth $33,617,027. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on MU shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Friday, April 12th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.20.

Micron Technology Stock Down 3.8 %

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $102.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.40. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $123.95 billion, a PE ratio of -32.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.03) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -13.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 411.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,274,070 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $763,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,286,893 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $581,559,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 47.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,489,801,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089,790 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Micron Technology by 59.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,185,790 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $709,006,000 after acquiring an additional 5,274,984 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Micron Technology by 43.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,383,628 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,182,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,257,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.