Wells Fargo & Company MN Lowers Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Wells Fargo & Company MN trimmed its position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 585,019 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 46,063 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in ASML were worth $405,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of ASML by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,239,421,000 after acquiring an additional 31,231 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,252,849 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $868,324,000 after purchasing an additional 33,603 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of ASML by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 807,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $559,494,000 after purchasing an additional 281,156 shares in the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its stake in shares of ASML by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 664,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $553,361,000 after buying an additional 25,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in ASML by 4,880.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 335,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $247,019,000 after buying an additional 328,552 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ASML shares. DZ Bank raised ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of 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 target price on shares of ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $937.00.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $605.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $716.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $726.98. ASML Holding has a 52 week low of $597.69 and a 52 week high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.24 billion, a PE ratio of 29.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.67.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $1.5855 dividend. This is an increase from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.35%.

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.