ASML Holding N.V. $ASML Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) by 10.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,616 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $18,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ASML by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 952,385 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $631,079,000 after acquiring an additional 199,740 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of ASML by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 905,708 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $600,175,000 after acquiring an additional 7,164 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 5.2% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 763,590 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $611,933,000 after purchasing an additional 37,994 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 101.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 731,271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $484,562,000 after purchasing an additional 367,505 shares during the period. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in ASML by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 710,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $470,910,000 after purchasing an additional 18,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ASML. Redburn Partners set a $1,200.00 target price on shares of ASML in a report on Friday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Bank Degroof lowered shares of ASML to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,076.33.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $1,003.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of $394.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,005.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $845.94. ASML Holding N.V. has a one year low of $578.51 and a one year high of $1,086.11.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $6.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.14. ASML had a return on equity of 47.74% and a net margin of 27.08%.The company had revenue of $8.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 29th were issued a $1.857 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 29th. This represents a $7.43 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.76%.

ASML 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.