Holderness Investments Co. Grows Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Holderness Investments Co. raised its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 642 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in ASML were worth $657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harvard Management Co. Inc. grew its holdings in ASML by 239.8% during the 2nd quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. now owns 93,519 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $95,645,000 after buying an additional 66,000 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 169.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,661,000 after purchasing an additional 14,682 shares during the period. Burford Brothers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ASML in the 4th quarter worth approximately $761,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 25,520.0% in the 1st quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 1,281 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,243,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares during the period. 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 Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $870.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $939.66. The company has a market capitalization of $313.81 billion, a PE ratio of 40.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. ASML Holding has a 52 week low of $563.99 and a 52 week high of $1,110.09.

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

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is an increase from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.