Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 82,646 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 17,187 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $57,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graypoint LLC grew its stake in ASML by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 325 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 104.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,009 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,840,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ASML by 9.8% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the third quarter worth $1,372,000. Finally, SpiderRock Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 91.7% in the third quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $979,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price objective on the stock. DZ Bank upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $937.00.

ASML Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of ASML stock opened at $732.22 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $288.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $645.45 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $733.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $745.76.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. Equities research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $1.5855 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 31.35%.

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.