ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Sold by Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. reduced its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,890 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in ASML were worth $1,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of ASML by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,664,000 after buying an additional 3,321 shares during the last quarter. KP Management LLC raised its stake in ASML by 66.7% during the second quarter. KP Management LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Harvard Management Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in ASML by 239.8% in the second quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. now owns 93,519 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $95,645,000 after acquiring an additional 66,000 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in ASML by 97,001.7% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 113,609 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,665,000 after acquiring an additional 113,492 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet North America Advisors SA grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 15.0% during the third quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 5,929 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,940,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ASML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML traded down $7.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $669.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,726,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,990,437. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $633.85 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.38 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $771.58 and its 200 day moving average is $889.64.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.77 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

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