ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Sold by Lake Street Advisors Group LLC

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 7.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,531 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $2,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in ASML by 41.1% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its position in ASML by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,552,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in ASML by 169.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,661,000 after buying an additional 14,682 shares during the period. Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new position in ASML during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $761,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in ASML by 25,520.0% during the first quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 1,281 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,243,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ASML. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,147.80.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $752.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $925.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $950.52. ASML Holding has a 52-week low of $563.99 and a 52-week high of $1,110.09. The company has a market capitalization of $297.04 billion, a PE ratio of 38.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.49. 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 (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The company’s revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.37 EPS. Analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 28.50%.

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.