Rakuten Securities Inc. Invests $618,000 in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 816 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ASML. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,013,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Savoie Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of ASML in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $14,658,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 48,040.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $186,202,000 after acquiring an additional 245,488 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP raised its position in shares of ASML by 69.2% in the 3rd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 11,529 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,787,000 after acquiring an additional 4,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of ASML by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,608 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,842,000 after buying an additional 1,661 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James increased their target price on ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on ASML in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,036.00.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded down $75.42 on Wednesday, reaching $901.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,800,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,217,460. The stock has a market cap of $355.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.48. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $563.99 and a 1 year high of $1,056.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $960.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $790.29.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. ASML had a return on equity of 68.32% and a net margin of 28.44%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.34 billion. Equities research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.46 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.99%.

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.