Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP - Free Report) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 137,013 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 49,117 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $7,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corundum Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 3.4% in the third quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 4,315 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in Microchip Technology by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 10,795 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 1.0% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Americana Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microchip Technology by 5.5% during the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MCHP. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Microchip Technology from $93.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 target price (down from $101.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America lowered Microchip Technology from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.00.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

MCHP stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $55.43. 3,943,754 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,839,504. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.76 and a beta of 1.52. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52 week low of $54.18 and a 52 week high of $100.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.72.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. Microchip Technology had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 14.22%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 48.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is an increase from Microchip Technology's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Microchip Technology's dividend payout ratio is currently 127.27%.

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.