Financial Counselors Inc. Acquires 3,410 Shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML - Free Report) by 20.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,842 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 3,410 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in ASML were worth $13,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 worth $9,282,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398,805 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 3,186,667 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,208,615,000 after purchasing an additional 959,696 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of ASML by 4,880.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 335,284 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $247,019,000 after purchasing an additional 328,552 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 281,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in shares of ASML by 59.4% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 439,890 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $307,374,000 after purchasing an additional 163,945 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded up $2.50 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $802.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,068,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,710,484. ASML Holding N.V. has a one year low of $578.51 and a one year high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $756.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $724.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.73.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The semiconductor company reported $6.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.12 by $0.19. ASML had a return on equity of 51.82% and a net margin of 28.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.90 billion. Equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ASML. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered ASML from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $806.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.