Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Sells 7,996,205 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 98.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,205 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 7,996,205 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $6,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $636,184,000 after purchasing an additional 3,131,807 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Microchip Technology by 30.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microchip Technology by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,143,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,295,000 after buying an additional 116,823 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Microchip Technology by 9,901.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,857,654 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $163,886,000 after buying an additional 2,829,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Microchip Technology by 20.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,751,987 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $220,957,000 after buying an additional 460,697 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MCHP. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $71.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.37.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MCHP opened at $51.90 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.69 and a 200 day moving average of $66.07. The stock has a market cap of $27.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.68 and a beta of 1.52. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12 month low of $50.21 and a 12 month high of $100.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.15). Microchip Technology had a net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 12.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is presently 325.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microchip Technology

In other Microchip Technology news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $226,717.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,272 shares in the company, valued at $2,025,599.36. The trade was a 10.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microchip Technology Company 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.