Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price Down 0.7% on Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares were down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $117.35 and last traded at $118.36. Approximately 7,260,953 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 18,724,857 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.14.

Specifically, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $5,400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 743,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,226,840. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 264,000 shares of company stock worth $26,368,640 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MU shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Micron Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $90.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.69.

Micron Technology Trading Down 0.6 %

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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.38. The company has a market cap of $131.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.31 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Micron Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MU. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 350,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $27,314,000 after purchasing an additional 39,693 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new position in shares of Micron Technology in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,672,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 200,423 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,611,000 after purchasing an additional 16,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in shares of Micron Technology by 52.5% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,121 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.