ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Up 1.7% – Should You Buy?

Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) traded up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $685.00 and last traded at $684.62. 415,451 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 1,446,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $672.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

ASML Price Performance

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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $744.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $873.54. The company has a market capitalization of $269.28 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. Research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hilltop National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.0% during the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in ASML by 1.1% during the second quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial increased its stake in shares of ASML by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders raised its stake in shares of ASML by 0.6% in the second quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,162,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.