ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Stake Trimmed by Sphera Funds Management LTD.

Sphera Funds Management LTD. lowered its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 71.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,840 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 7,061 shares during the quarter. Sphera Funds Management LTD.’s holdings in ASML were worth $2,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in ASML by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in ASML by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial boosted its position in ASML by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its position in ASML by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,162,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in ASML by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 844 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $863,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ASML. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on ASML in a report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target for the company. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $943.83.

ASML Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ASML stock opened at $719.92 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $726.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $860.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $645.45 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09. The company has a market capitalization of $283.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. As a group, research analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.