Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Sells 2,023 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 76.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 640 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,023 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in ASML during the first quarter valued at $26,000. WD Rutherford LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in ASML during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. First Community Trust NA purchased a new stake in ASML in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,147.80.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of ASML traded up $9.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $878.73. 587,710 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,234,096. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $563.99 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The stock has a market cap of $346.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $981.77 and a 200-day moving average of $954.32.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. ASML’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.37 EPS. Analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 28.50%.

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.