Lafayette Investments Inc. Increases Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 427 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter valued at $307,620,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 31,845.9% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 340,543 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $186,073,000 after purchasing an additional 339,477 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 34.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,067,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $628,344,000 after purchasing an additional 274,562 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 48,040.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $186,202,000 after purchasing an additional 245,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 981,659 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $536,378,000 after purchasing an additional 211,792 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ASML Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML traded down $12.28 on Friday, hitting $876.75. 594,180 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,227,320. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $563.99 and a 12 month high of $1,056.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $345.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $959.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $791.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. ASML had a return on equity of 59.10% and a net margin of 27.23%. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.34 billion. Analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $1.343 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 27.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. HSBC started coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,036.00.

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.