Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 390,269 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microchip Technology to 69,302,614 shares, valued at approximately $3.35 billion, representing 12.89% ownership of the company.
• Recent insider trading was reported, with the CFO and a director of Microchip Technology selling shares, marking a 5.55% and a 12.47% decrease in their respective holdings.
• Microchip Technology declared a quarterly dividend of $0.455 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.9%, payable to investors of record on August 22nd.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,302,614 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 390,269 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.89% of Microchip Technology worth $3,354,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCHP. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 39,298 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Northwest Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 7,392 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 46,235 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 24,933 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MCHP. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America upgraded Microchip Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Microchip Technology from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Microchip Technology from $66.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Microchip Technology from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $76.58.

Insider Activity

In other Microchip Technology news, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 494 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.69, for a total transaction of $29,980.86. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $210,472.92. The trade was a 12.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,015 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.78, for a total value of $112,396.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,313 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,979.14. The trade was a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MCHP traded up $3.55 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.50. 12,667,867 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,567,168. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a twelve month low of $34.13 and a twelve month high of $82.87. The company has a market cap of $34.81 billion, a PE ratio of -189.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.12.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. Microchip Technology had a positive return on equity of 6.24% and a negative net margin of 3.50%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Microchip Technology's revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Microchip Technology's payout ratio is presently -535.29%.

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.