Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Acquires 131 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 55,381 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $5,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 18,944.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,973,045 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,685 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,583,723 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,152,646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,921,497 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 425.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,377,099 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $123,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,962 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 17.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,068,311 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $544,388,000 after purchasing an additional 891,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,591,471 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $681,838,000 after buying an additional 736,818 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microchip Technology

In related news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.50, for a total value of $175,551.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,710,445.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America downgraded Microchip Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Microchip Technology from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut Microchip Technology from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $104.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $115.00 in a report on Friday, May 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microchip Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.95.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

MCHP opened at $77.01 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.73. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52-week low of $68.75 and a 52-week high of $100.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19 and a beta of 1.53.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 20.80%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 45.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.454 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This is an increase from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.16%.

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.