ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading 0.1% Higher – What’s Next?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares rose 0.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $676.54 and last traded at $672.02. Approximately 446,898 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 1,411,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $671.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ASML shares. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $970.60.

ASML Stock Down 0.3 %

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 has a market cap of $263.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $766.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $887.91.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released 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 company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. As a group, research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued 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 0.84%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in ASML by 18.2% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $454,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of ASML by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 396 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 70.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 29,021 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $28,164,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in ASML by 7.9% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,093 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,943,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 23.3% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 84,337 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,847,000 after purchasing an additional 15,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.