China Renaissance Downgrades Micron Technology to Hold

China Renaissance has decreased its rating for shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) from "buy" to "hold" in a research report released on Wednesday. The brokerage established a price target of $84.00 for the company's stock.

Several other financial institutions have also altered their ratings for Micron Technology recently. Bank of America recently downgraded the stock from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating, adjusting their price target from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report dated December 19th. Additionally, Goldman Sachs lowered their price goal for Micron Technology from $145.00 to $128.00 while maintaining a "buy" recommendation in their December 19th report. On March 17th, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating, holding a $125.00 target price, while UBS Group raised their price target from $125.00 to $130.00, continuing to rate the stock as a "buy." Needham & Company also lowered their price target on Micron Technology from $140.00 to $120.00 but still rated it as a "buy." Overall, one analyst has assigned a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty have issued buy ratings, and one has given a strong buy rating based on the stock. According to MarketBeat, Micron Technology has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $129.96.

Micron Technology Stock Performance

On Wednesday, Micron Technology shares opened at $92.13. Throughout the past fifty-two weeks, the stock reached a low of $83.54 and a high of $157.54. Financial ratios for the company include a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75, and a current ratio of 2.72. Its market capitalization stands at $102.65 billion with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 26.55, and a beta of 1.23. The 50-day simple moving average is $96.58 while the 200-day average is $98.41.

Latest Earnings and Dividends

Micron Technology reported its quarterly earnings on March 20th, announcing an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.56, surpassing the expected $1.43 by $0.13. The company's revenue for this quarter was $8.05 billion, exceeding analysts' projections of $7.93 billion. Last year during the same period, Micron achieved an EPS of $0.42. Analysts estimate that the company will record an EPS of 6.08 for the current fiscal year.

Dividend Declaration

Recently, Micron Technology declared a quarterly dividend of $0.115 per share, which will be distributed on April 15th to stockholders recorded by March 31st. This signifies an annualized dividend of $0.46, representing a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is March 31st, and the company's dividend payout ratio is 11.03%.

Insider Selling Activity

In insider news, Director Mary Pat McCarthy sold 2,404 shares of Micron Technology on March 3rd, at an average price of $92.93 per share, totaling approximately $223,403.72. Post-sale, she retains 27,358 shares of the company's stock, valued at about $2.54 million, marking an 8.08% decrease in her ownership interest. This transaction has been disclosed through the SEC filings.

Institutional Changes

Recently, several major institutional investors have adjusted their positions in Micron Technology. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake by 0.9%, owning 99,857,205 shares valued at around $8.40 billion, after buying 888,087 shares recently. State Street Corp. also raised its stake by 3.1%, now holding 48,226,710 shares worth $5.00 billion after acquiring an extra 1,434,568 shares. FMR LLC grew its holdings by 34.6%, owning 47,672,462 shares valued at $4.01 billion following an acquisition of over 12.24 million additional shares. Capital World Investors enhanced their position by 63.7% with 41,096,391 shares valued at $3.46 billion after purchasing more shares. Overall, 80.84% of Micron Technology shares are held by hedge funds and institutional investors.

About Micron Technology

Micron Technology, Inc. is engaged in the design, development, production, and sale of memory and storage solutions on a global scale. The company operates through four primary segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, Embedded Business Unit, and Storage Business Unit. They offer memory and storage technologies that include high-speed dynamic random access memory (DRAM) semiconductor devices, fast read speeds, and a variety of products under the Micron and Crucial brands.

Micron, Technology, Stock