Planned Solutions Inc. Purchases Shares of 144 ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 144 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 3.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,607,702 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,123,710,000 after acquiring an additional 126,413 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ASML by 7.6% during the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,495,236 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $880,186,000 after purchasing an additional 105,339 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in ASML by 2.0% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,214,574 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $714,971,000 after buying an additional 23,783 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of ASML by 34.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,067,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $628,344,000 after buying an additional 274,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 981,659 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $536,378,000 after acquiring an additional 211,792 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $726.00 to $878.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 30th. Raymond James upped their target price on ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on ASML from $950.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on ASML from $830.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $962.60.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML opened at $974.01 on Thursday. ASML Holding has a 52-week low of $563.99 and a 52-week high of $1,056.34. The firm has a market cap of $384.33 billion, a PE ratio of 45.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $919.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $750.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. ASML had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 68.32%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.48 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.343 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. ASML’s payout ratio is 24.59%.

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.