William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires 676 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,562 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $8,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ASML. Hilltop National Bank increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank grew its position in shares of ASML by 4.2% in the first quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 273 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in ASML by 1.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on ASML shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,147.80.

ASML Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of ASML stock opened at $803.04 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $316.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $563.99 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $892.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $944.45.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The business had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $1.8732 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 28.50%.

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.