Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 104.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,009 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ASML were worth $5,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the 2nd quarter worth $216,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of ASML by 53.2% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 360 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in shares of ASML by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 92 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 612 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $693.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $272.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $694.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $822.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. ASML Holding has a 12-month low of $645.45 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. Equities analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ASML shares. Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ASML currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $943.83.

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.