ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Down 0.4% – Here’s Why

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $707.08 and last traded at $708.98. 1,215,435 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 1,826,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $711.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Susquehanna cut their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $943.83.

ASML Stock Performance

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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $718.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $855.80. The company has a market capitalization of $277.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 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 firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 870,010 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in ASML by 94,079.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 491,096 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in ASML by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,464,061,000 after buying an additional 474,653 shares during the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd increased its position in ASML by 321.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 202,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $207,559,000 after buying an additional 154,760 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ASML during the third quarter worth approximately $125,952,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.