Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires Shares of 5,574 ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,574 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,409,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASML. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in ASML in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WD Rutherford LLC purchased a new stake in ASML during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in ASML during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC grew its stake in ASML by 110.0% during the first quarter. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC now owns 42 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded down $9.85 during trading on Thursday, reaching $862.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,853,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,251. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $563.99 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The company has a market capitalization of $340.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,005.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $942.60.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released 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 firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.3 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th will be given a $1.8732 dividend. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ASML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,147.80.

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.