ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Sold by Capital Research Global Investors

Capital Research Global Investors lowered its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in ASML were worth $5,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of ASML by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,359 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,767,464,000 after purchasing an additional 105,196 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,668,386,000 after acquiring an additional 572,996 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in ASML by 21.6% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after purchasing an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,617,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,224,002,000 after buying an additional 121,847 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in ASML by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,247,197 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $944,028,000 after buying an additional 32,623 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 $888.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $350.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.49. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $563.99 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,003.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $944.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.52.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 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 company had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.37 EPS. ASML’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.8732 per share. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 32.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ASML. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on ASML in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,147.80.

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.