Hedge Funds Are Buying Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP)

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently.

At the moment, there are plenty of metrics shareholders can use to analyze their holdings. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of reasons for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the latest action surrounding Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP).

What does the smart money think about Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the most valuable position in Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP), worth close to $109.6 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, which held a $51.7 million position; 0.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have jumped into Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) headfirst. Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, assembled the most valuable position in Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP). Balyasny Asset Management had 36.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC also made a $30.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MCHP positions are Scott Fine and Peter Richards’s Empire Capital Management, Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt..

How have insiders been trading Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP)?

Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP). These stocks are ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH), LSI Corp (NASDAQ:LSI), Altera Corporation (NASDAQ:ALTR), Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:LLTC), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). All of these stocks are in the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps resemble MCHP’s market cap.