First Pacific Financial Grows Stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

First Pacific Financial lifted its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ASML during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. WD Rutherford LLC acquired a new position in ASML during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of ASML during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ASML. Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,147.80.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML stock traded up $14.49 during trading on Monday, hitting $933.15. 938,111 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,233,394. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.52. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $563.99 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $971.68 and its 200 day moving average is $955.36. The stock has a market cap of $368.21 billion, a PE ratio of 47.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.3 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.8732 per share. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. ASML’s 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.