Value Partners Investments Inc. Acquires 9,336 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its position in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Free Report) by 42.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,456 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,336 shares during the quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $1,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Microchip Technology Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of MCHP traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,776,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,078,461. The business has a fifty day moving average of $50.72 and a 200 day moving average of $59.74. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 1 year low of $34.13 and a 1 year high of $100.57. The company has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.81 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Microchip Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 325.00%.

Insider Transactions at Microchip Technology

In other news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 33,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,025,599.36. The trade was a 10.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCHP. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Microchip Technology from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Microchip Technology from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.26.

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.