ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Down 1.9% – Time to Sell?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s stock price traded down 1.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $670.53 and last traded at $671.72. 365,891 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 1,445,973 shares. The stock had previously closed at $684.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASML has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $970.60.

ASML Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $263.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $737.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $868.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

ASML Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASML. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,654,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its stake in ASML by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,855,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,776 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in ASML by 37.0% in 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 buying an additional 474,653 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in ASML by 4,379.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after buying an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 0.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $836,300,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.