Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Makes New $29.58 Million Investment in ASML Holding N.V. $ASML

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,125 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,580,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in ASML by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,459,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,892,869,000 after buying an additional 592,125 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of ASML by 223.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 287,225 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $379,368,000 after acquiring an additional 198,505 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of ASML during the third quarter worth about $311,859,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 498.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 156,791 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $311,926,000 after acquiring an additional 130,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 6.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,641,565 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,168,227,000 after acquiring an additional 96,860 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ASML shares. Argus set a $2,100.00 price target on ASML in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,079.12.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $1,552.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.49. ASML Holding N.V. has a 1 year low of $946.11 and a 1 year high of $1,999.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,696.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,598.54. The firm has a market cap of $598.23 billion, a PE ratio of 38.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.80.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Sunday, September 27th. The semiconductor company reported $14.71 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $13.27 billion during the quarter. ASML had a return on equity of 64.24% and a net margin of 34.10%. Equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding N.V. will post 46.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 27th will be issued a dividend of $2.1077 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 27th. This represents a $8.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a drop from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.1507. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.55%.

ASML Profile

ASML Holding N.V. is a Netherlands-based technology company that develops and manufactures advanced lithography systems used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce integrated circuits. Its equipment helps customers transfer intricate circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, a critical step in the production of processors, memory chips and other semiconductor devices.

ASML’s product portfolio includes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, which support the production of the most advanced chips, as well as deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems for a broad range of semiconductor applications.