Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by China Renaissance

China Renaissance lowered shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. China Renaissance currently has $84.00 price target on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Micron Technology from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America downgraded shares of Micron Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KGI Securities raised Micron Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.76.

Micron Technology Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Micron Technology stock opened at $88.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.23. Micron Technology has a 1 year low of $83.54 and a 1 year high of $157.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.37.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 13.34%. The business had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Micron Technology will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Micron Technology’s payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $223,403.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,358 shares in the company, valued at $2,542,378.94. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $1,442,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,847,482.42. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Micron Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Micron Technology by 602.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in Micron Technology by 1,096.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 323 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 114.9% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Micron Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.