ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Stock Price Up 0.8% – Should You Buy?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares rose 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $666.29 and last traded at $664.00. Approximately 663,635 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 1,436,275 shares. The stock had previously closed at $658.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $970.60.

ASML Stock Down 0.5 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $753.23 and a 200 day moving average of $878.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $260.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a dividend of $1.407 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in ASML by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,654,921,000 after acquiring an additional 31,879 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC increased its stake in ASML by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after acquiring an additional 70,776 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in ASML by 37.0% during the 3rd 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. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in ASML by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,220,210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,184,173,000 after acquiring an additional 194,357 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in ASML by 4,379.6% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.