FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 51.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 496 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 530 shares during the period. FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 3,186,667 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,208,615,000 after purchasing an additional 959,696 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,239,421,000 after buying an additional 31,231 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,252,849 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $868,324,000 after purchasing an additional 33,603 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in ASML by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 962,578 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $667,155,000 after buying an additional 13,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in ASML by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 807,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $559,494,000 after acquiring an additional 281,156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ASML. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $937.00.

ASML Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of ASML stock opened at $653.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $709.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $721.15. ASML Holding has a one year low of $578.51 and a one year high of $1,110.09. The stock has a market cap of $257.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.67.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a net margin of 26.78% and a return on equity of 47.73%. Analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $1.5855 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This is a boost from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.35%.

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.