Bayforest Capital Ltd Increases Stake in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in ASML Holding N.V. by 4,830.0%, owning 493 shares valued at $327,000 after acquiring 483 additional shares in the first quarter.
• ASML recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.856, up from the previous dividend of $1.64, with a current payout ratio of 26.21%.
• According to analysts, ASML holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $923.80, despite experiencing a recent stock decline of 0.7%.

Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its holdings in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML - Free Report) by 4,830.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 493 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in ASML were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in 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 lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 3,186,667 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,208,615,000 after buying an additional 959,696 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 163,945 shares during the period. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in ASML by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd now owns 297,882 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $206,456,000 after buying an additional 116,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in ASML by 29.0% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 440,728 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $292,040,000 after buying an additional 99,199 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of ASML from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. New Street Research raised shares of ASML from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $806.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Seven equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $923.80.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML traded down $4.89 on Friday, reaching $689.82. 1,621,502 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,505,007. ASML Holding N.V. has a 1-year low of $578.51 and a 1-year high of $945.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $762.32 and a 200-day moving average of $726.45. The firm has a market cap of $271.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.77.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The semiconductor company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.94 by ($1.39). The business had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.72 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.47% and a net margin of 26.95%. ASML's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a $1.856 dividend. This is a positive change from ASML's previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $7.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. ASML's payout ratio is currently 26.21%.

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.