WASHINGTON TRUST Co Buys 338 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in ASML were worth $13,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ASML during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Kennebec Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 227.3% in the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ASML during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in ASML by 46.9% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 47 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in ASML by 133.3% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 56 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ASML shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target on the stock. DZ Bank upgraded shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $937.00.

ASML Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASML opened at $751.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $728.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $764.31. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $645.45 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market cap of $295.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. On average, analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $1.5855 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 26.83%.

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.