Freedom Investment Management Inc. Sells 629 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,160 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 629 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $2,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,654,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in ASML by 3.3% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,855,624,000 after acquiring an additional 70,776 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in ASML by 37.0% during 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 holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $836,300,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ASML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research 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 research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASML opened at $671.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $264.37 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.51. ASML Holding has a fifty-two week low of $645.45 and a fifty-two week high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $739.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $870.11.

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

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.21%.

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.