Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 897,011 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,195 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.17% of Microchip Technology worth $51,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCHP. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 39.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,829,082 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microchip Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,661,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Microchip Technology by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,347,643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $264,430,000 after acquiring an additional 776,408 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,912,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,952,123,000 after acquiring an additional 569,699 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Microchip Technology Trading Down 4.1 %

NASDAQ MCHP opened at $48.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.98. The stock has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.96 and a beta of 1.52. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52 week low of $48.27 and a 52 week 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.15). Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 6.49%. Equities research analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 325.00%.

Insider Transactions at Microchip Technology

In related news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total value of $226,717.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,025,599.36. This trade represents a 10.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCHP. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microchip Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.37.

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.