Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Purchases 13,307 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,307 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $5,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCHP. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,052 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microchip Technology by 1.8% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,725 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microchip Technology by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 3,894 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Microchip Technology by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,558 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,680 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microchip Technology Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MCHP opened at $48.70 on Friday. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52-week low of $48.27 and a 52-week high of $100.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.96 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $55.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 2.25.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.15). Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 6.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is 325.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCHP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $85.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Microchip Technology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microchip Technology

In related news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $226,717.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,025,599.36. This trade represents a 10.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Microchip Technology Profile

Microchip Technology Incorporated engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of smart, connected, and secure embedded control solutions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company offers general purpose 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit mixed-signal microcontrollers; 32-bit embedded mixed-signal microprocessors; and specialized microcontrollers for automotive, industrial, computing, communications, lighting, power supplies, motor control, human machine interface, security, wired connectivity, and wireless connectivity applications.