Marietta Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,168 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Marietta Investment Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,168 shares during the period. Marietta Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $3,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $2,654,921,000 after acquiring an additional 31,879 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC increased its holdings in ASML by 3.3% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,855,624,000 after buying an additional 70,776 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in ASML by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,239,421,000 after buying an additional 31,231 shares during the period. Windacre Partnership LLC increased its holdings in ASML by 4.0% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 664,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $553,361,000 after buying an additional 25,600 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in ASML by 14.2% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 402,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $335,598,000 after buying an additional 50,115 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ASML shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank raised shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $937.00.

ASML Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ ASML opened at $716.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $281.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $730.88 and a 200 day moving average of $735.13. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. Research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $1.5855 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 31.35%.

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.