Allstate Corp Makes New $922,000 Investment in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 16,085 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCHP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microchip Technology by 0.8% during 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 position in shares of 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 worth $636,184,000 after buying an additional 3,131,807 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $452,627,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 62.0% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,575,544 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $205,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 30.2% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCHP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.37.

Microchip Technology Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Microchip Technology stock opened at $48.41 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $55.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.61. The company has a market cap of $26.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.45 and a beta of 1.52. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 12-month low of $47.44 and a 12-month high of $100.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 EPS 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 12.62%. On average, equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is currently 325.00%.

Insider Activity

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

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.