Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Takes $234,000 Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 241 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 48,040.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $186,202,000 after purchasing an additional 245,488 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in ASML by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 776,768 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $587,951,000 after acquiring an additional 203,860 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the 4th quarter worth $150,318,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 151,844 shares during the period. Finally, Sands Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,617,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,224,002,000 after purchasing an additional 121,847 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

ASML Trading Down 0.7 %

ASML stock opened at $1,016.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.88. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $563.99 and a 1-year high of $1,077.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $956.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $902.70. The company has a market capitalization of $401.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.92, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. Research analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

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

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.