Optas LLC Boosts Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Optas LLC increased its position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 681 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 30 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 48,040.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $186,202,000 after purchasing an additional 245,488 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 776,768 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $587,951,000 after purchasing an additional 203,860 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of ASML during the 4th quarter valued at about $150,318,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,146,157 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $867,549,000 after purchasing an additional 151,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,617,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,224,002,000 after purchasing an additional 121,847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,043.00.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded down $5.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $1,022.73. 837,765 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,027,876. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $964.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $909.05. ASML Holding has a 52-week low of $563.99 and a 52-week high of $1,077.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $403.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.23, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.54. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.12 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $1.343 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.53%.

ASML Profile

ASML Holding N.V. develops, produces, markets, sells, and services advanced semiconductor equipment systems for chipmakers. It offers advanced semiconductor equipment systems, including lithography, metrology, and inspection systems. The company also provides extreme ultraviolet lithography systems; and deep ultraviolet lithography systems comprising immersion and dry lithography solutions to manufacture various range of semiconductor nodes and technologies.