Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires 15,532 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 278.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,106 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,532 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in ASML were worth $21,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in ASML by 4,379.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $910,102,000 after acquiring an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 50.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,668,386,000 after buying an additional 572,996 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co bought a new position in shares of ASML in the first quarter valued at about $542,710,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 21.6% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,608,921,000 after buying an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 11,084.1% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 246,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $238,784,000 after buying an additional 243,850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on ASML shares. Barclays raised ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on ASML from $1,185.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,110.80.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $832.41 on Friday. ASML Holding has a 12 month low of $573.86 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $328.46 billion, a PE ratio of 42.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $850.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $930.28.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.38 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $1.8732 per share. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.50%.

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.