ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Sold by Main Street Research LLC

Main Street Research LLC cut its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 97.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 564 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 19,030 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ASML. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in ASML by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,654,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 3.3% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after buying an additional 70,776 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,239,421,000 after buying an additional 31,231 shares during the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC increased its position in ASML by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 664,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $553,361,000 after acquiring an additional 25,600 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in ASML by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 402,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $335,598,000 after acquiring an additional 50,115 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ASML Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of ASML opened at $732.22 on Monday. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $645.45 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $288.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $733.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $745.76.

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

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $1.5855 per share. This is a boost from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.