ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Up 0.8% – Should You Buy?

Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shot up 0.8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $666.29 and last traded at $664.00. 663,635 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 1,436,275 shares. The stock had previously closed at $658.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ASML. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective 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, Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $756.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $881.85. 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 cap of $261.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its 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 return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. On average, analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.77 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 issued a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hilltop National Bank boosted its holdings in ASML by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in ASML by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,162,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.