Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Buys 3,761 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,934 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in ASML were worth $12,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new position in ASML during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,000. Heirloom Wealth Management increased its holdings in ASML by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Heirloom Wealth Management now owns 23,795 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $18,011,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in ASML by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,785 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,108,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. increased its holdings in ASML by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 427 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in ASML by 76.1% during the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $908,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ASML. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $830.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced 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. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,050.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,036.00.

ASML Price Performance

ASML traded down $29.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $859.54. 2,486,841 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,050,484. The company has a market cap of $339.17 billion, a PE ratio of 43.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $958.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $793.71. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $563.99 and a 1 year high of $1,056.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $1.343 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.02%.

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.