United Bank Acquires 3,159 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

United Bank raised its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares during the period. United Bank’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,706,403 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $212,562,000 after purchasing an additional 419,912 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 273.2% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,345,096 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $306,541,000 after buying an additional 3,912,895 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Microchip Technology by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 621,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,481,000 after buying an additional 41,077 shares during the period. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Microchip Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $922,000. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS grew its stake in Microchip Technology by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 91,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,226,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MCHP opened at $48.70 on Friday. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12 month low of $48.27 and a 12 month high of $100.57. The company has a market capitalization of $26.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.96 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.65 and a 200-day moving average of $63.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 12.62%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microchip Technology

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MCHP. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Microchip Technology from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating 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 report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microchip Technology from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.37.

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.