ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Sold by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance lowered its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 20.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,134 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in ASML were worth $3,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ASML by 1.0% during 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 period. Edgewood Management LLC raised its stake in ASML by 3.3% during 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in ASML by 37.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after purchasing an additional 474,653 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in ASML by 4,379.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after purchasing an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in ASML by 0.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $836,300,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $970.60.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML stock opened at $684.47 on Tuesday. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $645.45 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The company has a market capitalization of $269.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $742.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $871.93.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.21%.

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.