ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Bought by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,035 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $3,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 1.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 31,879 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 3.3% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after acquiring an additional 70,776 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 37.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after acquiring an additional 474,653 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after acquiring an additional 870,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 0.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $836,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of ASML traded down $11.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $727.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 766,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,411,295. The business has a fifty day moving average of $699.90 and a 200 day moving average of $805.98. The company has a market cap of $286.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.47. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. As a group, analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BNP Paribas started coverage on ASML in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $955.50.

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.