Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Sells 36 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 26.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 36 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $77,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ASML. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,620,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in ASML by 31,845.9% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 340,543 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $186,073,000 after acquiring an additional 339,477 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in ASML by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,067,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $628,344,000 after buying an additional 274,562 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in ASML by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 981,659 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $536,378,000 after buying an additional 211,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in ASML by 106.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 336,956 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $198,353,000 after buying an additional 173,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Down 0.6 %

ASML stock traded down $6.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $967.72. 384,914 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,229,204. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $919.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $750.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $381.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.49. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $563.99 and a 1 year high of $1,056.34.

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

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $1.343 dividend. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. ASML’s payout ratio is 24.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ASML shares. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of ASML from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of ASML from $950.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $962.60.

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.