ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Price Target Lowered to $1,000.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) had its target price trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $1,185.00 to $1,000.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on ASML. Susquehanna upped their target price on ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays raised ASML from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ASML from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $1,110.80.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASML opened at $833.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $328.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.48. ASML has a twelve month low of $573.86 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $848.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $929.08.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ASML will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in ASML by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,967,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,760,348,000 after acquiring an additional 95,795 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 50.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,668,386,000 after buying an additional 572,996 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after acquiring an additional 294,784 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of ASML by 15.4% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,282,396 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,311,545,000 after purchasing an additional 170,992 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 194,357 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.