ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Price Target Raised to $860.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $790.00 to $860.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

ASML has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $955.50.

ASML Stock Performance

ASML stock opened at $727.41 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $701.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $803.87. The company has a market cap of $286.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84. ASML has a fifty-two week low of $645.45 and a fifty-two week high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ASML will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.21%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of ASML in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,174,000. Taurus Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ASML in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,994,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of ASML by 5.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 140,802 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,323,000 after purchasing an additional 7,010 shares during the period. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of ASML by 7.2% in the third quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,361 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of ASML by 7.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,664,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321 shares during the period. 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.