Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 552,699 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. has significantly reduced its stake in Microchip Technology by 42.1%, now holding approximately $36.76 million worth of shares after selling 552,699 shares.
• Microchip Technology has received various upgrades from analysts, with TD Cowen raising its price target from $35.00 to $55.00 and KeyCorp increasing theirs from $70.00 to $85.00.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.455 per share, with a yield of 2.7%, despite a negative dividend payout ratio reflecting financial challenges.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its position in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Free Report) by 42.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 759,267 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 552,699 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 0.14% of Microchip Technology worth $36,756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCHP. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Microchip Technology in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Microchip Technology by 399.4% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 809 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Microchip Technology during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 161.0% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 937 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owned 34,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,979.14. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 494 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.69, for a total value of $29,980.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.94% of the company's stock.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

MCHP stock traded down $4.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.87. The company had a trading volume of 20,069,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,773,815. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.10. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $34.13 and a fifty-two week high of $82.87. The company has a market cap of $33.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -181.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. Microchip Technology had a negative net margin of 3.50% and a positive return on equity of 6.33%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Microchip Technology's payout ratio is -18,200.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCHP. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Microchip Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $76.58.

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.