ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) were up 0.1% on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. ASML traded as high as $1,059.37 and last traded at $1,053.76. Approximately 348,665 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 1,138,108 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,052.47.

ASML has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of ASML in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Three 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, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,043.00.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in ASML by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 237 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in ASML during the 1st quarter worth $76,000. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of ASML by 78.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 9,452 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,173,000 after buying an additional 4,156 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of ASML by 169.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,661,000 after buying an additional 14,682 shares during the period. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its position in shares of ASML by 9.9% during the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 777 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $418.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $951.64 and a 200 day moving average of $891.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. ASML had a net margin of 27.23% and a return on equity of 56.99%. As a group, analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.12 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. ASML’s payout ratio is 32.53%.

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.