First Merchants Corp Sells 83,718 Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

First Merchants Corp trimmed its position in shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Free Report) by 79.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,981 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 83,718 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $1,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCHP. CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 6.4% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 12,902 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 0.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 116,549 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,358,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 62.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,885 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,801,000 after purchasing an additional 13,392 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 24.4% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 67,532 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,422,000 after purchasing an additional 13,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in Microchip Technology by 55.2% in 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 in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MCHP. StockNews.com cut shares of Microchip Technology from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America cut shares of Microchip Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (down from $101.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.11.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

MCHP traded up $2.10 on Tuesday, reaching $57.86. The company had a trading volume of 11,320,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,016,836. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $50.21 and a fifty-two week high of $100.57. The stock has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.32 and a beta of 1.50. The company's fifty day moving average is $56.66 and its 200 day moving average is $68.35. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 12.41%. As a group, analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. Microchip Technology's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 325.00%.

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.