Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $5.46 Million Stock Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 14.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,553 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 849 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $5,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ASML. Taurus Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASML in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,994,000. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ASML by 7.2% in the third quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,361 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,800,000 after buying an additional 1,032 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in ASML by 7.5% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,664,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in ASML by 104.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,009 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,840,000 after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares during the period. Finally, Vantage Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 34,767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $28,970,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $671.97 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $739.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $870.11. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $645.45 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.37 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

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.