Fiduciary Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Fiduciary Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 516.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $2,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 shares of ASML by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,239,421,000 after acquiring an additional 31,231 shares during the period. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its stake in shares of ASML by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 664,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $553,361,000 after acquiring an additional 25,600 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of ASML by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 402,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $335,598,000 after acquiring an additional 50,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

ASML Price Performance

ASML opened at $734.91 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $731.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $736.45. The firm has a market cap of $289.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.33, 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.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a net margin of 26.78% and a return on equity of 47.73%. Equities research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.5855 per share. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.