ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Down 3.2% – Here’s Why

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price fell 3.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $669.70 and last traded at $670.52. 891,916 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 1,430,825 shares. The stock had previously closed at $692.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ASML shares. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of 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. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley downgraded ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

ASML Trading Down 5.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $259.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $756.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $881.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. On average, research analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 870,010 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co purchased a new stake in ASML in the 1st quarter valued at about $542,710,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in ASML by 94,079.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 491,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,096,410,000 after acquiring an additional 491,096 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of ASML by 37.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 474,653 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of ASML by 21.6% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,608,921,000 after acquiring an additional 294,784 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.