ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Short Interest Up 80.3% in June

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, a growth of 80.3% from the May 31st total of 732,200 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Institutional Trading of ASML

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WD Rutherford LLC bought a new position in shares of ASML during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 46 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ASML in the first quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASML traded down $5.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $1,022.73. The company had a trading volume of 837,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,027,876. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $964.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $907.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $403.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.54. ASML has a 12 month low of $563.99 and a 12 month high of $1,077.22.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. As a group, analysts anticipate that ASML will post 20.12 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $1.343 dividend. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,043.00.

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.