ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Up 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares rose 0.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $688.99 and last traded at $687.86. Approximately 457,097 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 1,446,415 shares. The stock had previously closed at $686.61.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $961.00.

ASML Stock Up 3.2 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $732.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $864.88. The firm has a market cap of $278.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake 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 worth $910,102,000 after buying an additional 870,010 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 worth $4,096,410,000 after acquiring an additional 491,096 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in ASML by 37.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 474,653 shares during the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd boosted its stake in ASML by 321.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 202,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $207,559,000 after purchasing an additional 154,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of ASML in the third quarter worth $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.