ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Down 0.2% After Analyst Downgrade

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s stock price dropped 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on the stock from $815.00 to $767.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. ASML traded as low as $659.61 and last traded at $670.48. Approximately 1,231,751 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 1,985,718 shares. The stock had previously closed at $671.97.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group cut shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $961.00.

Institutional Trading of ASML

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in ASML by 4,379.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $910,102,000 after buying an additional 870,010 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in ASML by 94,079.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,096,410,000 after acquiring an additional 491,096 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in ASML by 37.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after purchasing an additional 474,653 shares in the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd lifted its stake in ASML by 321.2% during the second quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 202,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $207,559,000 after purchasing an additional 154,760 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new stake in ASML during the third quarter valued at approximately $125,952,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ASML Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $732.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $865.74. The company has a market capitalization of $270.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. On average, research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a dividend of $1.407 per share. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

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.