Clearbridge Investments LLC Acquires 1,962,685 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 18,944.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,973,045 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,962,685 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.37% of Microchip Technology worth $177,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCHP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,583,723 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,152,646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,921,497 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,279,166 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $836,795,000 after purchasing an additional 87,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $672,196,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,068,311 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $544,388,000 after purchasing an additional 891,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Microchip Technology by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,881,646 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $259,867,000 after purchasing an additional 51,249 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microchip Technology news, VP Stephen V. Drehobl sold 7,830 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.06, for a total transaction of $744,319.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,558,125.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Stephen V. Drehobl sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.88, for a total transaction of $908,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 82,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,470,608.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Stephen V. Drehobl sold 7,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.06, for a total transaction of $744,319.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,558,125.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,993 shares of company stock valued at $2,251,857 over the last three months. 2.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCHP. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Microchip Technology from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.17.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

MCHP traded down $3.41 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $89.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,744,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,736,129. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $93.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.46. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12 month low of $68.75 and a 12 month high of $100.57. The stock has a market cap of $48.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. Microchip Technology had a net margin of 24.98% and a return on equity of 36.78%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. Microchip Technology’s quarterly revenue was down 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.452 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. This is a positive change from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is presently 52.16%.

Microchip Technology 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.