Microchip Technology Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 16,476 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,867 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microchip Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $452,627,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 273.2% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,345,096 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $306,541,000 after purchasing an additional 3,912,895 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,093,007 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $636,184,000 after purchasing an additional 3,131,807 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,360,805 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $364,792,000 after buying an additional 3,013,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 9,901.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,857,654 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $163,886,000 after buying an additional 2,829,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MCHP. Bank of America lowered shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Microchip Technology from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Microchip Technology from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Microchip Technology from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microchip Technology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.11.

Microchip Technology Price Performance

MCHP stock traded up $4.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.10. 7,947,139 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,935,210. The stock has a market cap of $33.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.95 and a beta of 1.50. Microchip Technology has a one year low of $50.21 and a one year 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.22.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last announced its 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 return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 6.49%. Equities analysts expect that Microchip Technology will post 1.03 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 325.00%.

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.