Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 856 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Park Avenue Securities LLC decreased its stake in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 856 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $8,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ASML. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,899 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,471,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in ASML by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,508 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,655,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in ASML by 208.6% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,487 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in ASML by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 12,604 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in ASML by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 1,508 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on ASML from $1,185.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,110.80.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML stock traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $833.00. 862,835 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,253,543. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $573.86 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $848.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $929.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $328.69 billion, a PE ratio of 42.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.48.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $1.8732 dividend. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 28.50%.

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.