Short Interest in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Grows By 11.8%

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, a growth of 11.8% from the October 31st total of 1,270,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hilltop National Bank lifted its holdings in ASML by 1.0% during the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in ASML by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 2.8% during the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in ASML by 1.1% during the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of ASML by 0.6% in the second quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,162,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ASML Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASML opened at $686.61 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $270.13 billion, a PE ratio of 35.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $732.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $864.88. ASML has a twelve month low of $645.45 and a twelve month high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Equities research analysts expect that ASML will post 20.68 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna lowered their price target 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. UBS Group downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $961.00.

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.