Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Stock Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,437 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ASML. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASML during the third quarter worth $25,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV acquired a new position in ASML during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ASML in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ASML in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, First Community Trust NA purchased a new stake in shares of ASML during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASML opened at $671.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $739.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $870.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55. ASML Holding has a fifty-two week low of $645.45 and a fifty-two week high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group downgraded shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

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.