ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s stock price fell 0.1% on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $1,185.00 to $1,000.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. ASML traded as low as $823.79 and last traded at $831.00. 227,749 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 1,253,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $832.19.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ASML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,110.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASML. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in ASML by 4,379.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after acquiring an additional 870,010 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 50.0% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new stake in shares of ASML during the 1st quarter valued at about $542,710,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,608,921,000 after buying an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of ASML by 11,084.1% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 246,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $238,784,000 after acquiring an additional 243,850 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ASML Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $850.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $930.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.48.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. The business’s revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. This is an increase from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is 28.50%.

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.