Leavell Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hilltop National Bank lifted its holdings in ASML by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 1.1% in the second quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 2.8% in the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in ASML by 1.1% in the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders grew its stake in ASML by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ASML shares. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML opened at $669.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day moving average is $771.58 and its 200-day moving average is $889.64. The stock has a market cap of $263.38 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $633.85 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. On average, analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

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.