ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Short Interest Update

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was the target of a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 646,600 shares, a drop of 61.0% from the August 15th total of 1,660,000 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASML. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in ASML in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new position in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. WD Rutherford LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASML during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in ASML during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ASML. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has 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 $1,147.80.

ASML Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASML traded up $16.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $816.36. 1,069,219 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,259,921. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $322.13 billion, a PE ratio of 41.69, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. ASML has a 12 month low of $563.99 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09. The company has a fifty day moving average of $898.19 and a 200 day moving average of $945.46.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.37 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that ASML will post 20.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This is an increase from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.50%.

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.