Cerity Partners LLC Buys 7,405 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 22.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 40,195 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,405 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $33,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Taurus Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,994,000. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 7.2% in the third quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,361 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in ASML by 7.5% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,664,000 after buying an additional 3,321 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ASML by 104.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,009 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,840,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 8.5% in the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 34,767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $28,970,000 after buying an additional 2,736 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ASML. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

ASML Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ASML stock opened at $672.88 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $744.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $873.54. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $645.45 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $264.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. Research analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

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.