South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 5,700 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 24.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 29,019 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 5,700 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $2,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in Microchip Technology by 3.4% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,226 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microchip Technology in the third quarter worth approximately $210,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 2.8% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 5,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 3.6% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 15,891 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 46.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,139 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,426,000 after buying an additional 30,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microchip Technology

In other news, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.00, for a total value of $31,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,276. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microchip Technology news, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.00, for a total value of $31,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,276. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 1,970 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.90, for a total transaction of $165,283.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,759,722.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCHP shares. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Microchip Technology in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Microchip Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Microchip Technology from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microchip Technology from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Microchip Technology in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.50.

Microchip Technology Trading Up 5.2 %

Shares of Microchip Technology stock opened at $90.68 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.50. The stock has a market cap of $49.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 1-year low of $68.75 and a 1-year high of $94.30.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The semiconductor company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. Microchip Technology had a net margin of 27.59% and a return on equity of 45.59%. The company’s revenue was down 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 4.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. This is an increase from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is presently 42.06%.

Microchip Technology Company Profile

Microchip Technology Incorporated develops, manufactures, and sells 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 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.