ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Down 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price was down 0.2% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $708.93 and last traded at $714.55. Approximately 322,488 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 1,449,681 shares. The stock had previously closed at $715.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ASML shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $943.83.

ASML Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $280.74 billion, a PE ratio of 37.36, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $695.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $829.75.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during 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%. Equities research analysts predict 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 given a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after purchasing an additional 870,010 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in ASML by 94,079.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,096,410,000 after buying an additional 491,096 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in ASML by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,464,061,000 after acquiring an additional 474,653 shares during the period. Tairen Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of ASML by 321.2% in the second quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 202,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $207,559,000 after acquiring an additional 154,760 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the third quarter worth $125,952,000. 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.