ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price was down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $715.00 and last traded at $717.91. Approximately 251,447 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 1,455,698 shares. The stock had previously closed at $721.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on 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. Morgan Stanley lowered ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on ASML in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $943.83.

ASML Stock Down 0.2 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $694.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $837.26. 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 firm has a market cap of $283.15 billion, a PE ratio of 37.68, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Resources Management Corp CT ADV acquired a new position in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Private Ocean LLC increased its position in shares of ASML by 58.3% during the second quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 38 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.