Axa S.A. Buys 8,266 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Axa S.A. boosted its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 158.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,499 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,266 shares during the period. Axa S.A.’s holdings in ASML were worth $13,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Harvard Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 239.8% in the 2nd quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. now owns 93,519 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $95,645,000 after acquiring an additional 66,000 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in ASML by 41.1% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 122.1% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 6,415 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,560,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 169.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,661,000 after purchasing an additional 14,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $761,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ASML shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna upped their target price on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,147.80.

ASML Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ ASML opened at $841.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $331.08 billion, a PE ratio of 42.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $855.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $933.98. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $563.99 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.55%.

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.