Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) shares reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $49.92 and last traded at $51.26, with a volume of 2475038 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microchip Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.37.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $56.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $27.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.39 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is 325.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microchip Technology news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total value of $226,717.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,272 shares in the company, valued at $2,025,599.36. The trade was a 10.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microchip Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microchip Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $5,917,000. Consolidated Planning Corp bought a new position in Microchip Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $308,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Microchip Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,312,000. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. bought a new position in Microchip Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Finally, one8zero8 LLC bought a new position in Microchip Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $384,000. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.