First Pacific Financial Lowers Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

First Pacific Financial reduced its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,130 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 28 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in ASML were worth $855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 229,923 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $153,573,000 after acquiring an additional 29,290 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of ASML by 5.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,391 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,230,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in ASML by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,266 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new stake in ASML in the 1st quarter worth approximately $264,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in ASML by 35.2% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 426 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. HSBC started coverage on ASML in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of ASML from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $962.60.

ASML Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASML opened at $974.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $384.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.28, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $919.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $750.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. ASML Holding has a fifty-two week low of $563.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,056.34.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.34 billion. ASML had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 68.32%. On average, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.48 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $1.343 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.59%.

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.