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

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares fell 0.4% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $117.61 and last traded at $118.88. 2,627,493 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 19,895,486 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.32.

Specifically, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 53,317 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.18, for a total transaction of $6,354,320.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 319,119 shares in the company, valued at $38,032,602.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 53,317 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.18, for a total value of $6,354,320.06. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 319,119 shares in the company, valued at $38,032,602.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.30, for a total transaction of $583,377.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 370,207 shares of company stock worth $41,839,707 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Micron Technology from $105.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Micron Technology from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.60.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $130.57 billion, a PE ratio of -34.46 and a beta of 1.27. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.70.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Micron Technology had a negative return on equity of 8.98% and a negative net margin of 20.57%. The company’s revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.03) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Micron Technology, Inc. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Micron Technology during the 4th quarter worth $769,372,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 47.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,899,184 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,489,801,000 after buying an additional 7,089,790 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Micron Technology by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,383,628 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,182,608,000 after acquiring an additional 5,257,201 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Micron Technology by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,303,400 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,177,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Micron Technology by 125.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,541,662 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $387,585,000 after acquiring an additional 2,523,267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.