Meritage Portfolio Management Lowers Stock Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,705 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 280 shares during the quarter. ASML comprises approximately 1.4% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in ASML were worth $22,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ASML. Hilltop National Bank boosted its stake in ASML by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial grew its position in shares of ASML by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 0.6% in the second quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $970.60.

ASML Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ ASML traded down $7.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $669.47. 1,726,789 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,990,437. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $771.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $889.64. The firm has a market cap of $263.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $633.85 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.77 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

About ASML

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.