Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Has $29,000 Stock Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 740.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of ASML by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,128 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of ASML during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,174,000. Taurus Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASML during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,994,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of ASML by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 140,802 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,323,000 after purchasing an additional 7,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ASML by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,322 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $18,243,000 after purchasing an additional 7,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $937.00.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML opened at $714.00 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $733.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $739.83. The company has a market capitalization of $280.90 billion, a PE ratio of 34.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $1.5855 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a boost from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s 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.