Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Grows Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 28.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,934 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in ASML were worth $12,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 14.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 229,923 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $153,573,000 after purchasing an additional 29,290 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 5.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,391 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,230,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 13.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,266 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ASML in the first quarter valued at about $264,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management lifted its position in ASML by 35.2% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 426 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASML has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of ASML from $830.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James upped their target price 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. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,036.00.

ASML Stock Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:ASML traded down $29.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $859.54. The stock had a trading volume of 2,486,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,050,484. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $958.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $793.71. The company has a market capitalization of $339.17 billion, a PE ratio of 43.90, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.48. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $563.99 and a twelve month high of $1,056.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $1.343 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.