Whittier Trust Co. Trims Stock Position in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Whittier Trust Co. reduced its stake in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,915 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 432 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in ASML were worth $5,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 70,115.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,400,800 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $9,282,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398,805 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC raised its position in ASML by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 3,186,667 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,208,615,000 after buying an additional 959,696 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in ASML by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 807,257 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $559,494,000 after acquiring an additional 281,156 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 439,890 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $307,374,000 after acquiring an additional 163,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hyperion Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of ASML by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd now owns 297,882 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $206,456,000 after acquiring an additional 116,121 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company's stock.

ASML Stock Down 0.9%

ASML stock traded down $6.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $738.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,080,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,750,521. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $769.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $727.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company has a market capitalization of $290.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.73. ASML Holding N.V. has a 12 month low of $578.51 and a 12 month high of $957.21.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The semiconductor company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.94 by ($1.39). ASML had a return on equity of 50.31% and a net margin of 26.95%. The business had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.01 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a $1.856 dividend. This is a positive change from ASML's previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. This represents a $7.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. ASML's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ASML. Jefferies Financial Group cut ASML from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $806.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Susquehanna cut their target price on ASML from $1,100.00 to $965.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $923.80.

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.