ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Up 0.6%

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares shot up 0.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $890.39 and last traded at $875.04. 279,493 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 1,232,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $869.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ASML. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,147.80.

ASML Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $981.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $954.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.99, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.3 EPS for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $1.8732 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. ASML’s payout ratio is 28.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Interval Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,450,000. Tairen Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 321.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 202,946 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $207,559,000 after purchasing an additional 154,760 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 118,647 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,748,000 after purchasing an additional 4,333 shares in the last quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 3,177 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at $222,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.