Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 16,125 Shares of ASML Holding N.V. $ASML

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,125 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,580,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Common Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ASML in the first quarter worth approximately $4,355,000. Puzo Michael J acquired a new position in ASML during the second quarter worth approximately $1,795,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in ASML by 6.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 440,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $876,783,000 after purchasing an additional 27,021 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in ASML by 4.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 85,872 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $170,851,000 after purchasing an additional 3,632 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in ASML by 12.5% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,167 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,057,000 after purchasing an additional 2,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASML. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Monday, September 28th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,079.12.

ASML Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of ASML stock opened at $1,552.14 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,696.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,598.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. ASML Holding N.V. has a twelve month low of $946.11 and a twelve month high of $1,999.96. The stock has a market cap of $598.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.80.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings data on Sunday, September 27th. The semiconductor company reported $14.71 EPS for the quarter. ASML had a return on equity of 64.24% and a net margin of 34.10%. The company had revenue of $13.27 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that ASML Holding N.V. will post 46.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 27th will be paid a $2.1077 dividend. This represents a $8.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a decrease from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.1507. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 27th. ASML’s payout ratio is 17.55%.

About ASML

ASML Holding N.V. is a Netherlands-based technology company that develops and manufactures advanced lithography systems used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce integrated circuits. Its equipment helps customers transfer intricate circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, a critical step in the production of processors, memory chips and other semiconductor devices.

ASML’s product portfolio includes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, which support the production of the most advanced chips, as well as deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems for a broad range of semiconductor applications.