Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 9,152 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,434 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,152 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $5,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Microchip Technology by 9,901.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,857,654 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $163,886,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829,082 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 2,390.5% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,291,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $209,653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,199,290 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 25.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,961,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $599,239,000 after buying an additional 1,597,263 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Microchip Technology by 30.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,347,643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $264,430,000 after buying an additional 776,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Microchip Technology in the third quarter worth about $27,744,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCHP. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America downgraded Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $93.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.00.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

MCHP opened at $56.03 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18 and a beta of 1.52. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52-week low of $54.47 and a 52-week high of $100.57.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Microchip Technology had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 48.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.455 dividend. This is an increase from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.27%.

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.