Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Shares Down 0.8% on Insider Selling

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares were down 0.8% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $108.07 and last traded at $110.90. Approximately 5,466,604 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 20,393,424 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.78.

Specifically, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $5,850,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 728,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,712,410. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 4,890 shares of the firm’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 owns 148,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,753,868.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $5,850,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 728,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,712,410. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 268,890 shares of company stock valued at $29,738,667 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Fox Advisors raised shares of Micron Technology from an “equal weight” rating to 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.20.

Micron Technology Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.74. The business’s 50-day moving average is $105.94 and its 200-day moving average is $88.17.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.03) earnings per share. Micron Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 57.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is currently -13.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 0.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,833,670 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $737,015,000 after buying an additional 80,345 shares in the last quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 492.3% during the third quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 26,444 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 21,979 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,807,926 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $599,203,000 after purchasing an additional 927,302 shares during the last quarter. Merlin Capital Inc purchased a new position in shares of Micron Technology during the third quarter valued at approximately $407,000. Finally, Amitell Capital Pte Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 97.9% during the third quarter. Amitell Capital Pte Ltd now owns 95,210 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,477,000 after purchasing an additional 47,105 shares during the last quarter. 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.