Legal & General Group Plc Has $197.36 Million Stock Holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) by 30.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,441,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,489,111 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Microchip Technology were worth $197,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Microchip Technology by 309.5% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 475 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Microchip Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microchip Technology news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 3,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $226,717.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,025,599.36. This represents a 10.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Microchip Technology Trading Up 27.1 %

MCHP opened at $44.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $24.15 billion, a PE ratio of 80.18 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.68 and a 200-day moving average of $61.56. Microchip Technology Incorporated has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $100.57.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts predict that Microchip Technology Incorporated will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microchip Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. Microchip Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 325.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MCHP shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Microchip Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America cut Microchip Technology from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut Microchip Technology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Microchip Technology from $71.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.37.

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.