ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Short Interest Update

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 732,200 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the May 15th total of 694,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in ASML by 11.5% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,013,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Savoie Capital LLC bought a new position in ASML during the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,658,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in ASML by 48,040.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $186,202,000 after purchasing an additional 245,488 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in ASML by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,608 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its position in shares of ASML by 219.0% during the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,195,000 after buying an additional 2,168 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI began coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. HSBC started coverage on ASML in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,043.00.

ASML Price Performance

ASML stock opened at $1,061.38 on Wednesday. ASML has a 52-week low of $563.99 and a 52-week high of $1,077.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $949.90 and its 200 day moving average is $890.72. The company has a market cap of $418.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.21, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.54. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that ASML will post 20.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $1.343 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $5.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.48%.

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.