Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Buys 6,891 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,604 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,891 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $1,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Microchip Technology by 39.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Microchip Technology by 30.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microchip Technology by 3.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 9,901.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,829,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 20.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 460,697 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on Microchip Technology from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Microchip Technology from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America lowered Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.37.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MCHP opened at $54.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $29.35 billion, a PE ratio of 97.45 and a beta of 1.52. 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 50-day moving average price of $56.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.13. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12-month low of $50.21 and a 12-month high of $100.57.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.15). Microchip Technology had a net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 12.62%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is currently 325.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $226,717.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 33,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,025,599.36. This represents a 10.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.