Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 9,695 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 267,529 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 9,695 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $12,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,912,345 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,952,123,000 after buying an additional 569,699 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,093,007 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $636,184,000 after buying an additional 3,131,807 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,247,908 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $587,718,000 after purchasing an additional 890,819 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter worth about $452,627,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,877,482 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $451,774,000 after purchasing an additional 653,705 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MCHP shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Microchip Technology from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microchip Technology from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microchip Technology from $69.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.53.

Microchip Technology Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of MCHP stock traded down $2.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $65.73. The company had a trading volume of 9,841,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,788,447. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.78 and a 200 day moving average of $54.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $35.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.38 and a beta of 1.48. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 1-year low of $34.13 and a 1-year high of $96.98.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $970.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $962.86 million. Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 6.49%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 26.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. Microchip Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -18,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 494 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.69, for a total value of $29,980.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,468 shares in the company, valued at $210,472.92. This trade represents a 12.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.78, for a total transaction of $112,396.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,979.14. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

About Microchip Technology

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.