Cercano Management LLC Acquires New Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Cercano Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 26,034 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,706,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ASML. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in ASML by 11.5% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,013,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Savoie Capital LLC purchased a new position in ASML during the third quarter worth approximately $14,658,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in ASML by 48,040.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $186,202,000 after purchasing an additional 245,488 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP raised its stake in ASML by 69.2% during the third quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 11,529 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,787,000 after purchasing an additional 4,716 shares during the period. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its stake in ASML by 219.0% during the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ASML. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. 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 report on Friday, January 26th. 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 report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,036.00.

ASML Stock Up 2.0 %

ASML traded up $18.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $918.97. 865,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,204,430. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $955.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $805.93. The company has a market cap of $362.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.93, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.48. ASML Holding has a fifty-two week low of $563.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,056.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. As a group, analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.343 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. ASML’s payout ratio is 27.02%.

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.