Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 3,580 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 104.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,009 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,580 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $5,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ASML. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in ASML by 2.8% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,977 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,980,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of ASML in the 3rd quarter worth $4,166,000. Milestone Resources Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Milestone Resources Group Ltd now owns 14,115 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,761,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. FFG Partners LLC bought a new stake in ASML during the third quarter valued at about $341,000. Finally, American Trust grew its stake in ASML by 191.3% in the third quarter. American Trust now owns 1,238 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Down 0.4 %

ASML stock opened at $693.08 on Thursday. ASML Holding has a 52 week low of $645.45 and a 52 week high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market cap of $272.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $694.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $822.28. 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 data on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASML has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley downgraded ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $943.83.

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.