Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 280 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,705 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 280 shares during the period. ASML accounts for about 1.4% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in ASML were worth $22,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,664,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321 shares during the period. KP Management LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 66.7% in the second quarter. KP Management LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,114,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Harvard Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 239.8% in the second quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. now owns 93,519 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $95,645,000 after buying an additional 66,000 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 97,001.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 113,609 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $94,665,000 after buying an additional 113,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet North America Advisors SA grew its position in shares of ASML by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 5,929 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,940,000 after buying an additional 773 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ASML Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML traded down $7.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $669.47. 1,726,789 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,990,437. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $771.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $889.64. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $633.85 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The stock has a market cap of $263.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASML. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

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.