Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Buys New Shares in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 315 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 11.5% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,013,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Savoie Capital LLC acquired a new position in ASML during the third quarter worth $14,658,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 48,040.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $186,202,000 after buying an additional 245,488 shares during the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in ASML by 9.3% during the fourth 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. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its holdings in ASML by 219.0% during the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,195,000 after buying an additional 2,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded up $23.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $1,071.41. 779,820 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,018,812. The company has a market capitalization of $422.77 billion, a PE ratio of 54.72, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.49. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $563.99 and a 12-month high of $1,077.22. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $974.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $914.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.12 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $1.343 dividend. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 32.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on ASML shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,043.00.

ASML Company Profile

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.