Darden Wealth Group Inc Buys 40 Shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Darden Wealth Group Inc increased its stake in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,568 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Darden Wealth Group Inc’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ASML. Putney Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in ASML by 322.2% during the 1st quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC now owns 38 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in ASML during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the first quarter worth $42,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the first quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the first quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on ASML from $1,100.00 to $965.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on ASML in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $806.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $923.80.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded down $1.40 on Friday, hitting $743.51. The stock had a trading volume of 317,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,747,938. ASML Holding N.V. has a twelve month low of $578.51 and a twelve month high of $957.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $769.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $727.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $292.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.73.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The semiconductor company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.94 by ($1.39). The company had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.72 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.95% and a return on equity of 50.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.01 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be paid a $1.856 dividend. This represents a $7.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.96%.

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.