Hartford Investment Management Co. Trims Stock Position in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 409 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $1,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 12,902 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 116,549 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,358,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after acquiring an additional 13,392 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 67,532 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,422,000 after acquiring an additional 13,245 shares during the period. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 55.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 613 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Microchip Technology from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $85.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microchip Technology from $71.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (down from $101.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.11.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MCHP opened at $54.26 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.94 and its 200 day moving average is $69.14. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $50.21 and a fifty-two week high of $100.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.14 billion, a PE ratio of 96.89 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 earnings per share 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 12.41%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is presently 325.00%.

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.