Hills Bank & Trust Co Increases Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 772 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in ASML were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,654,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,855,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,776 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of ASML by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,239,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31,231 shares during the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 25,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of ASML by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 402,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $335,598,000 after purchasing an additional 50,115 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ASML Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASML opened at $714.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $280.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.33, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $645.45 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $733.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $739.83. 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 (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%. Analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

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