Scotia Capital Inc. Buys 5,598 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,666 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 5,598 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $45,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASML. Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its position in ASML by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 6,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,772,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC bought a new stake in ASML during the 4th quarter worth about $471,000. Texas Yale Capital Corp. raised its holdings in ASML by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 511 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,417,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 3,623 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 858 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 analysts have recently commented on ASML shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. DZ Bank raised ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $937.00.

ASML Stock Up 15.4 %

ASML opened at $687.26 on Thursday. ASML Holding has a 1-year low of $578.51 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $709.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $721.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $270.38 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.67.

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 the consensus estimate of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. As a group, research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $1.5855 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.35%.

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.