ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Down 1.4% – Time to Sell?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price dropped 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $645.45 and last traded at $653.10. Approximately 579,732 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 1,439,947 shares. The stock had previously closed at $662.16.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ASML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group downgraded shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

ASML Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $263.60 billion, a PE ratio of 35.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $747.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $875.74.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. As a group, equities analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in ASML by 4,379.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 94,079.7% in the third 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 shares of ASML by 37.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after buying an additional 474,653 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of ASML by 213.5% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 289,944 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $281,382,000 after buying an additional 197,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of ASML by 18.9% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,220,210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,184,173,000 after acquiring an additional 194,357 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.