Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 1,877 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 9.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,714 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,877 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $18,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hilltop National Bank lifted its position in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank lifted 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 worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of ASML by 1.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of ASML by 1.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ASML by 2.8% in the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASML opened at $795.28 on Friday. ASML Holding has a one year low of $563.99 and a one year high of $1,110.09. The company has a market cap of $313.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $870.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $939.66. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.37 earnings per share. ASML’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.