Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $54.41 and last traded at $54.56, with a volume of 1141461 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $56.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCHP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI reiterated 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. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Microchip Technology in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microchip Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.00.

Microchip Technology Stock Down 1.8 %

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 stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45 and a beta of 1.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.72.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. Microchip Technology had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 48.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.455 per share. This is a positive change from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 127.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microchip Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,917,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the third quarter valued at about $3,312,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 5,185.4% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 9,230 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Microchip Technology by 25.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 96,163 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,721,000 after purchasing an additional 19,663 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Microchip Technology by 9,901.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,857,654 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $163,886,000 after purchasing an additional 2,829,082 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.