Short Interest in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) Rises By 27.4%
Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Rating) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,870,000 shares, an increase of 27.4% from the November 30th total of 14,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.
Microchip Technology Trading Down 0.3 %
NASDAQ:MCHP opened at $70.25 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.05. Microchip Technology has a 1 year low of $54.33 and a 1 year high of $88.97.
Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 3rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.06 billion. Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 47.90% and a net margin of 24.14%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microchip Technology will post 5.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microchip Technology Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 22nd were issued a $0.328 dividend. This is a positive change from Microchip Technology's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 21st. This represents a $1.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Microchip Technology's dividend payout ratio is 40.06%.
Insider Transactions at Microchip Technology
In other news, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 927 shares of Microchip Technology stock in a transaction on Monday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.54, for a total transaction of $59,828.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,355.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Microchip Technology
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microchip Technology by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,524,560 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,998,964,000 after purchasing an additional 417,578 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 1.7% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 32,228,436 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,871,828,000 after acquiring an additional 551,092 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 1.6% during the third quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,517,994 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $519,852,000 after acquiring an additional 131,879 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 17.2% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,665,626 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $467,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 1.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,553,578 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $567,576,000 after acquiring an additional 123,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.85% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $72.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $92.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $83.50.
About Microchip Technology
Microchip Technology Incorporated develops, manufactures, and sells 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 microcontrollers; 32-bit embedded microprocessors markets; and specialized microcontrollers for automotive, industrial, computing, communications, lighting, power supplies, motor control, human machine interface, security, wired connectivity, and wireless connectivity applications.
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