Madison Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,296 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,760,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Impact Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter worth about $313,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in ASML by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 55,866 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,720,000 after acquiring an additional 11,247 shares in the last quarter. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 4th quarter worth approximately $505,000. Balboa Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of ASML by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 5,699 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,950,000 after purchasing an additional 2,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of ASML by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 789 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. DZ Bank raised shares of ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $937.00.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML stock opened at $703.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $733.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $742.38. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $645.45 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $276.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.54.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. On average, analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $1.5855 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 31.35%.

ASML 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.