ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Acquired by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) by 93.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,529 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Semus Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ASML during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 24.5% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 66,336 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $43,956,000 after buying an additional 13,034 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 23.7% in the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 12,734 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,438,000 after buying an additional 2,441 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 29.8% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,171 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,090,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DE Burlo Group Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 65.3% in the first quarter. DE Burlo Group Inc. now owns 34,860 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,099,000 after buying an additional 13,765 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on ASML. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $806.00 target price on the stock. New Street Research upgraded ASML from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. DZ Bank cut ASML from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $923.80.

ASML Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of ASML stock opened at $711.25 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $765.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $727.27. ASML Holding N.V. has a fifty-two week low of $578.51 and a fifty-two week high of $945.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $279.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The semiconductor company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.94 by ($1.39). ASML had a net margin of 26.95% and a return on equity of 49.47%. The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.01 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.856 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $7.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.67%.

About ASML

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.