Synovus Financial Corp Purchases 22 Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 475 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 22 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in ASML were worth $396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in ASML by 1.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,654,921,000 after acquiring an additional 31,879 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in shares of ASML by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,776 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 37.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after purchasing an additional 474,653 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 870,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 0.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $836,300,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ASML. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $943.83.

ASML Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML opened at $719.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55. ASML Holding has a 52-week low of $645.45 and a 52-week high of $1,110.09. The company has a market capitalization of $283.06 billion, a PE ratio of 37.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $702.89 and a 200-day moving average of $844.50.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. On average, equities analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is 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.