Ninety One North America Inc. Boosts Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Ninety One North America Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,535 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $4,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new stake in ASML during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,022,000. Telos Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 938.6% during the fourth quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,278 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 7,481 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in ASML during the fourth quarter worth approximately $618,000. Slow Capital Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 4,407 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,336,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance lifted its stake in ASML by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 2,449 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML traded down $18.20 during trading on Thursday, reaching $889.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,026,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,228,320. The firm has a market capitalization of $350.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $960.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $791.11. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. ASML had a return on equity of 68.32% and a net margin of 28.44%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.4 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.343 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. ASML’s payout ratio is 24.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on ASML from $830.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. HSBC initiated coverage on ASML in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,036.00.

ASML 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.