ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading 0.2% Higher – Should You Buy?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price traded up 0.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $688.99 and last traded at $687.86. 457,097 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 1,446,415 shares. The stock had previously closed at $686.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASML has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Susquehanna decreased their target price on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. 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.com, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $961.00.

ASML Stock Up 3.2 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $732.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $864.88. The company has a market cap of $278.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 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.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 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 firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in ASML by 4,379.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $910,102,000 after purchasing an additional 870,010 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 94,079.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,096,410,000 after buying an additional 491,096 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in ASML by 37.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd boosted its position in ASML by 321.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 202,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $207,559,000 after buying an additional 154,760 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in ASML in the 3rd quarter worth $125,952,000. 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.