ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Down 0.1% – What’s Next?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s stock price dropped 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $735.40 and last traded at $743.47. Approximately 562,219 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 1,349,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $743.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $943.83.

ASML Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $292.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $698.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $810.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.76%. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASML. Lantz Financial LLC acquired a new stake in ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at $216,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of ASML by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 7,738 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,914,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ASML by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 5,704 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,833,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its position in ASML by 6.9% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 129,376 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $132,316,000 after buying an additional 8,361 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.