Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $888,000 Stake in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. reduced its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,708 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Microchip Technology in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Steph & Co. boosted its position in Microchip Technology by 57.4% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 414 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microchip Technology in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microchip Technology during the first quarter valued at $45,000. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.50, for a total value of $175,551.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 33,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,710,445.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Microchip Technology Stock Performance

Shares of MCHP stock opened at $77.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21 and a beta of 1.53. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52 week low of $68.75 and a 52 week high of $100.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $80.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.63.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Microchip Technology had a net margin of 20.80% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The firm’s revenue was down 45.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a $0.454 dividend. This is a boost from Microchip Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Microchip Technology’s payout ratio is presently 52.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MCHP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Microchip Technology from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Microchip Technology from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Microchip Technology from $104.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microchip Technology from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Microchip Technology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $110.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.47.

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.