Atom Investors LP Buys 1,144 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Atom Investors LP raised its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 36.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,144 shares during the quarter. Atom Investors LP’s holdings in ASML were worth $3,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,654,921,000 after buying an additional 31,879 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its stake in ASML by 3.3% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,776 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 37.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,464,061,000 after buying an additional 474,653 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 870,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in ASML by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $836,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $686.61 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $270.13 billion, a PE ratio of 35.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $732.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $864.88. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. 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 (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASML. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $961.00.

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.