William Blair Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 176 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $7,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 4.2% during the first quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 273 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.2% during the first quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 898 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 126 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 4,407 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,336,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 287 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded down $136.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $932.06. 5,180,092 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,151,130. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,006.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $935.73. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $563.99 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $367.78 billion, a PE ratio of 49.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $1.343 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on ASML in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,083.00.

ASML Company 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.