Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 11,939 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,986 put options.

Institutional Trading of Microchip Technology

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 2,390.5% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 2,199,290 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in 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 worth $599,239,000 after buying an additional 1,597,263 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 78.3% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,189,390 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,329,000 after buying an additional 961,801 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 776,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 234.1% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 899,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,391,000 after acquiring an additional 630,285 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microchip Technology Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MCHP stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $58.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,336,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,322,826. Microchip Technology has a 52 week low of $55.27 and a 52 week high of $100.57. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.68. The company has a market cap of $31.39 billion, a PE ratio of 40.87 and a beta of 1.50.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 14.22%. The company’s revenue was down 48.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microchip Technology will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. This is a positive change from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCHP shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microchip Technology from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho set a $95.00 target price on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Microchip Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microchip Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.63.

About Microchip Technology

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.