Gold Investment Management Ltd. Has $818,000 Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 39.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,180 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in ASML were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amundi increased its position in shares of ASML by 4,880.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 335,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $247,019,000 after buying an additional 328,552 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in ASML during the fourth quarter valued at $175,257,000. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in shares of ASML in the 4th quarter worth about $137,386,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 281.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 156,693 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $108,601,000 after purchasing an additional 115,603 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in shares of ASML by 126.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 148,377 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $123,635,000 after purchasing an additional 82,836 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DZ Bank upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price 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. 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $937.00.

ASML Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ ASML opened at $714.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $280.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $733.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $738.78.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 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, equities research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 25.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

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

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.