ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Up 1.9% – Still a Buy?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) rose 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $745.12 and last traded at $736.36. Approximately 680,061 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 1,447,998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $722.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $943.83.

ASML Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $707.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $846.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $289.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49.

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

ASML Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,654,921,000 after acquiring an additional 31,879 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after acquiring an additional 70,776 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after acquiring an additional 474,653 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $836,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085 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.