Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Microchip Technology Put Options (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 19,025 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 48% compared to the typical volume of 12,893 put options.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microchip Technology

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCHP. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microchip Technology by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 39,298 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Northwest Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 7,392 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 2.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,052 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 1.8% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,725 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microchip Technology by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 3,894 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America lowered shares of Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.37.

Microchip Technology Stock Up 1.4 %

MCHP stock opened at $51.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.82. The company has a market capitalization of $27.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.36 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microchip Technology has a 12 month low of $49.92 and a 12 month high of $100.57.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microchip Technology will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Microchip Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.