Great Diamond Partners LLC Sells 86 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Great Diamond Partners LLC lessened its holdings in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 19.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 359 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in ASML were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ASML. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in ASML by 4,379.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after purchasing an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of ASML by 50.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,668,386,000 after acquiring an additional 572,996 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co purchased a new position in ASML during the first quarter valued at $542,710,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in ASML by 94,079.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,096,410,000 after acquiring an additional 491,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in ASML by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after purchasing an additional 294,784 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ASML. Susquehanna reduced their target price on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

ASML Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of ASML opened at $683.83 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $802.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $901.15. The company has a market cap of $269.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. ASML Holding has a twelve month low of $593.56 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be paid a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 29.42%.

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.