ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Bought by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 4,379.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 870,010 shares during the period. ASML comprises 2.3% of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV owned about 0.23% of ASML worth $910,102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harvard Management Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 239.8% in the second quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. now owns 93,519 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $95,645,000 after purchasing an additional 66,000 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 41.1% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 169.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,661,000 after purchasing an additional 14,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $761,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,147.80.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML stock opened at $805.69 on Wednesday. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $563.99 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $887.62 and a 200-day moving average of $943.15.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $1.8732 dividend. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 28.50%.

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.