Needham & Company LLC Cuts Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) Price Target to $85.00

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) had its price objective decreased by Needham & Company LLC from $96.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on MCHP. StockNews.com upgraded Microchip Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America lowered shares of Microchip Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $110.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut Microchip Technology from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, B. Riley dropped their price target on Microchip Technology from $110.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

Shares of MCHP stock traded down $1.47 on Wednesday, reaching $72.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,290,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,325,453. The company has a market capitalization of $39.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.96 and a beta of 1.53. Microchip Technology has a 1 year low of $71.76 and a 1 year high of $100.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.98.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 48.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microchip Technology will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. This is an increase from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,154 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.50, for a total transaction of $175,551.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,710,445.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microchip Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCHP. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microchip Technology by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 105,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,486,000 after purchasing an additional 35,213 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Microchip Technology in the first quarter valued at $1,079,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Microchip Technology by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 870,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,355,000 after buying an additional 93,464 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Microchip Technology by 507.5% in the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 17,307 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after purchasing an additional 14,458 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Microchip Technology during the second quarter worth approximately $42,538,000. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.