Soros Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 20,570 ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Soros Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 20,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,140,000. ASML accounts for about 4.1% of Soros Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, First Community Trust NA bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASML. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $970.60.

ASML Price Performance

NASDAQ ASML opened at $671.97 on Wednesday. ASML Holding has a 52 week low of $645.45 and a 52 week high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $739.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $870.11.

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

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

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.