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

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares dropped 0.7% during 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 traded hands 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 7,000 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.13, for a total transaction of $574,910.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 651,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,528,966.67. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 264,000 shares of company stock worth $26,368,640. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on MU shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Micron Technology in a report on Monday, March 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $90.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $105.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.69.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.74 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.15 billion, a PE ratio of -34.31 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $90.63 and its 200-day moving average is $80.38.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative net margin of 20.57% and a negative return on equity of 8.98%. The company’s revenue was up 57.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.03) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is -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. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the third quarter worth about $27,000. 80.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.