FourThought Financial Partners LLC Acquires 218 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $7,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its holdings in ASML by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,128 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in ASML in the fourth quarter worth $1,174,000. Taurus Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 3rd quarter valued at $16,994,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in ASML by 5.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 140,802 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,323,000 after acquiring an additional 7,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stockman Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of ASML by 7.2% during the third quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,361 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

ASML Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASML opened at $735.96 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $289.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $732.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $757.27.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.67%.

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.