Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML - Free Report) by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,026,082 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 164,716 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.26% of ASML worth $854,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ASML. Hilltop National Bank boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in ASML by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in ASML by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.1% during the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 0.6% during the second quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of 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. Barclays upgraded ASML from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group cut ASML from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded ASML from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ASML traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $672.88. 1,274,376 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,450,566. The stock has a market capitalization of $264.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm's fifty day moving average is $744.92 and its 200-day moving average is $874.05. ASML Holding has a 1 year low of $645.45 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a dividend of $1.407 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. ASML's payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

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.