SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 21.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,435 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $215,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCHP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microchip Technology by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,912,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,952,123,000 after purchasing an additional 569,699 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $636,184,000 after purchasing an additional 3,131,807 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,247,908 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $587,718,000 after purchasing an additional 890,819 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the fourth quarter worth approximately $452,627,000. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,877,482 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $451,774,000 after buying an additional 653,705 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MCHP. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho raised their target price on Microchip Technology from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Microchip Technology from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.68.

Microchip Technology Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ MCHP opened at $65.25 on Monday. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $96.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $35.20 billion, a PE ratio of 116.52 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $49.94 and its 200 day moving average is $54.81.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. Microchip Technology had a net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $970.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were issued a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently -18,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 494 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.69, for a total transaction of $29,980.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $210,472.92. This represents a 12.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.78, for a total transaction of $112,396.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,913,979.14. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.