ASML Holding N.V. $ASML Shares Purchased by Factory Mutual Insurance Co.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. increased its position in ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) by 3.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 70,621 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in ASML were worth $56,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in ASML during the first quarter worth $360,262,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in ASML by 101.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 731,271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $484,562,000 after purchasing an additional 367,505 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 91.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 642,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $403,215,000 after purchasing an additional 307,214 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its position in shares of ASML by 61.0% in the 1st quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 708,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $469,183,000 after buying an additional 268,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 952,385 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $631,079,000 after buying an additional 199,740 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Trading Up 2.1%

ASML stock opened at $1,038.79 on Tuesday. ASML Holding N.V. has a 1 year low of $578.51 and a 1 year high of $1,086.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $958.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $820.81. The firm has a market cap of $408.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.31.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $6.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.14. ASML had a return on equity of 47.74% and a net margin of 27.08%.The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.28 earnings per share. ASML’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were paid a dividend of $1.857 per share. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 29th. This represents a $7.43 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ASML. HSBC restated a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. DZ Bank reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,076.33.

ASML Company 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.