Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Boosts Holdings in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML - Free Report) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 63,732 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,866 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in ASML were worth $42,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 70,115.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,400,800 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,282,120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,398,805 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 59.4% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 439,890 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $307,374,000 after acquiring an additional 163,945 shares in the last quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 63.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 440,728 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $292,040,000 after acquiring an additional 99,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 3,694.5% during the 4th quarter. Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. now owns 72,892 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $50,520,000 after acquiring an additional 70,971 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of ASML in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $806.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of ASML from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $923.80.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML opened at $699.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $275.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.76. ASML Holding N.V. has a 1-year low of $578.51 and a 1-year high of $945.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $761.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $725.88.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The semiconductor company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.94 by ($1.39). ASML had a return on equity of 49.47% and a net margin of 26.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.72 billion. During the same quarter last 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

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

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.