Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Has $5.64 Million Stock Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 1.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in ASML were worth $5,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ASML. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in ASML by 4,379.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after acquiring an additional 870,010 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new position in ASML during the 1st quarter worth approximately $542,710,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in ASML by 94,079.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,096,410,000 after acquiring an additional 491,096 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in ASML by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after acquiring an additional 474,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in ASML by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after acquiring an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML traded down $34.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $658.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,063,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,440,591. ASML Holding has a 52 week low of $654.77 and a 52 week high of $1,110.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $756.70 and its 200-day moving average is $881.59. 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 cap of $259.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ASML. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

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.