Wealth Alliance Cuts Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Wealth Alliance lowered its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,253 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in ASML were worth $2,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hilltop National Bank grew its holdings in ASML by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in ASML by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 273 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. grew its holdings in ASML by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 898 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $871,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in ASML by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ASML by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $805.69 on Wednesday. ASML Holding has a 52-week low of $563.99 and a 52-week high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $887.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $943.15.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.37 EPS. ASML’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $1.8732 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. ASML’s payout ratio is 28.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASML has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.