Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Lowers Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. decreased its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,890 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after purchasing an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new position in ASML in the first quarter valued at $542,710,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in ASML by 94,079.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,096,410,000 after buying an additional 491,096 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in ASML by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after buying an additional 474,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in ASML by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,608,921,000 after buying an additional 294,784 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ASML shares. Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of ASML traded down $7.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $669.47. 1,726,789 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,990,437. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $633.85 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The company has a market cap of $263.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $771.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $889.64.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.21%.

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.