ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Up 1.2% – Still a Buy?

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) shares rose 1.2% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $1,759.25 and last traded at $1,743.94. 799,563 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 1,768,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,722.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on ASML from $1,971.00 to $2,623.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ASML from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of ASML from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,970.33.

ASML Stock Up 1.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $685.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,717.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,626.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Sunday, June 28th. The semiconductor company reported $8.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $10.62 billion during the quarter. ASML had a return on equity of 52.71% and a net margin of 30.11%. On average, equities analysts expect that ASML Holding N.V. will post 44.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 28th were given a $2.1507 dividend. This is a drop from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.1771. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $8.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 22.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASML. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ASML by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,459,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,892,869,000 after acquiring an additional 592,125 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in ASML by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,282,190 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,550,840,000 after purchasing an additional 59,888 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in ASML by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,641,565 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,168,227,000 after buying an additional 96,860 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,560,256 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,060,833,000 after buying an additional 19,051 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,033,583 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,364,963,000 after buying an additional 18,768 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ASML Company Profile

ASML Holding N.V. is a Netherlands-based technology company that develops and manufactures lithography systems used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce integrated circuits. Its equipment uses light to project intricate circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, an essential step in the production of chips for computers, smartphones, automobiles, data centers and other electronic devices.

The company’s product portfolio includes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems and advanced metrology and inspection technologies.