Brokerages Set ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Target Price at $970.60

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $970.60.

ASML has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. 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. UBS Group cut shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% during the second 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. Fayez Sarofim & Co bought a new position in ASML during the 1st quarter worth $542,710,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $4,096,410,000 after buying an additional 491,096 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of 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. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake 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 period. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ASML Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASML opened at $692.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $760.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $884.66. The stock has a market cap of $272.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51. ASML has a 1-year low of $654.77 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. 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 (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Research analysts anticipate that ASML will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.