Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Purchases 84 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 627 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,654,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ASML by 3.3% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,776 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of ASML by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,239,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31,231 shares during the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its stake in shares of ASML by 4.0% in the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 664,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $553,361,000 after purchasing an additional 25,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of ASML by 14.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 402,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $335,598,000 after purchasing an additional 50,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. DZ Bank raised ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. BNP Paribas began coverage on ASML in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $937.00.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASML opened at $732.22 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $733.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $747.14. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $645.45 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market cap of $288.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a net margin of 26.78% and a return on equity of 47.73%. Analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $1.5855 per share. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 31.35%.

ASML 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.