Wall Street Zen Upgrades Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) to “Hold”

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MCHP. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Microchip Technology from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microchip Technology from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Bank of America raised Microchip Technology from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on Microchip Technology from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.15.

Microchip Technology Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of MCHP stock opened at $70.49 on Friday. Microchip Technology has a 1-year low of $34.13 and a 1-year high of $96.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $38.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7,049.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.48.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. Microchip Technology had a positive return on equity of 8.55% and a negative net margin of 0.01%. The firm had revenue of $970.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $962.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microchip Technology will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.78, for a total value of $112,396.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,313 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,979.14. This represents a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Karlton D. Johnson sold 494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.69, for a total value of $29,980.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $210,472.92. This trade represents a 12.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microchip Technology

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. one8zero8 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microchip Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $384,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,912,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,952,123,000 after purchasing an additional 569,699 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 90.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,360,805 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $364,792,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,162 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Microchip Technology by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 16,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Microchip Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $738,000. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.