Banco Santander S.A. Has $2.63 Million Stock Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Banco Santander S.A. raised its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 87.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,790 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,770 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in ASML were worth $2,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new position in ASML during the fourth quarter worth $501,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in ASML by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 627 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management raised its position in shares of ASML by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 28,443 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,713,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,402 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $972,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of ASML by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $937.00.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML opened at $732.22 on Friday. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $645.45 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The company has a market cap of $288.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $733.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $747.14. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $1.5855 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 31.35%.

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.