Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,565 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in ASML by 1.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML by 4.0% in the third 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 period. Amundi raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in ASML by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 258,638 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $215,530,000 after buying an additional 35,926 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in ASML in the 4th quarter worth $175,257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DZ Bank upgraded shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BNP Paribas started coverage on ASML in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $937.00.

ASML Trading Down 2.3 %

ASML stock opened at $674.58 on Monday. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $645.45 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $727.46 and a 200 day moving average of $731.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 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%. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a $1.5855 dividend. This is an increase from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. 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.