Values First Advisors Inc. Grows Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 920 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 376 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,970 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,762,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASML in the 4th quarter valued at about $304,000. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ASML during the 4th quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 1,169 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ASML Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ASML stock traded down $3.54 on Friday, reaching $970.47. 685,856 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,108,298. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $924.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $751.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $382.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. ASML Holding has a fifty-two week low of $563.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,056.34.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 68.32% and a net margin of 28.44%. On average, analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.48 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.343 per share. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. ASML’s payout ratio is 24.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ASML shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded ASML from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on ASML from $726.00 to $878.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on ASML from $830.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $962.60.

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.