Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Purchases New Shares in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,426 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Microchip Technology by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,093,007 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $636,184,000 after acquiring an additional 3,131,807 shares during the period. 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 valued at $264,430,000 after acquiring an additional 776,408 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Microchip Technology by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,143,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $180,295,000 after acquiring an additional 116,823 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Microchip Technology by 9,901.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,857,654 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $163,886,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829,082 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in Microchip Technology by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,751,987 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $220,957,000 after acquiring an additional 460,697 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microchip Technology from $71.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Microchip Technology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Microchip Technology from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.37.

Microchip Technology Stock Down 6.5 %

Shares of MCHP opened at $51.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.07 and a beta of 1.52. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12-month low of $50.21 and a 12-month high of $100.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $56.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.03. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.15). Microchip Technology had a net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 12.62%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 325.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microchip Technology

In other Microchip Technology 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,025,599.36. The trade was a 10.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microchip Technology 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.