J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 696 ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 696 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ASML. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,607,702 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,123,710,000 after purchasing an additional 126,413 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,495,236 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $880,186,000 after purchasing an additional 105,339 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,214,574 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $714,971,000 after purchasing an additional 23,783 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of ASML by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,067,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $628,344,000 after purchasing an additional 274,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of ASML by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 823,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $484,961,000 after purchasing an additional 32,501 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on ASML shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,036.00.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $901.57 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $957.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $800.90. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $563.99 and a 1 year high of $1,056.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $355.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.54.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.34 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $1.343 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.02%.

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.