ProShare Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 78,192 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 6,145 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $79,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,967,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,760,348,000 after purchasing an additional 95,795 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 50.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,668,386,000 after acquiring an additional 572,996 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 21.6% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after acquiring an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,617,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,224,002,000 after acquiring an additional 121,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in ASML by 15.4% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,282,396 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,311,545,000 after acquiring an additional 170,992 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $795.28 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $870.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $939.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.62, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $563.99 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. ASML’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $1.8732 dividend. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 28.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group cut shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,147.80.

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.