ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Stake Lifted by Saturna Capital Corp

Saturna Capital Corp raised its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 0.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 319,554 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the quarter. ASML comprises approximately 3.5% of Saturna Capital Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Saturna Capital Corp owned about 0.08% of ASML worth $266,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in ASML by 4,379.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $910,102,000 after buying an additional 870,010 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new stake in shares of ASML in the 1st quarter worth $542,710,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 94,079.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,096,410,000 after acquiring an additional 491,096 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of ASML by 37.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after acquiring an additional 474,653 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 21.6% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after purchasing an additional 294,784 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ASML. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $970.60.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $664.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $763.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $886.15. ASML Holding has a 52-week low of $654.77 and a 52-week high of $1,110.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. Equities research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.77 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.21%.

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.