ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $937.00.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on ASML in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $858.00 price target on the stock. DZ Bank upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 3,186,667 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,208,615,000 after buying an additional 959,696 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,654,921,000 after buying an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in ASML by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,788,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,239,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31,231 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in ASML by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,252,849 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $868,324,000 after purchasing an additional 33,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in ASML by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 962,578 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $667,155,000 after purchasing an additional 13,115 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ASML Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ASML opened at $735.96 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $732.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $757.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $289.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.47. ASML has a 1-year low of $645.45 and a 1-year high of $1,110.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 47.73% and a net margin of 26.78%. Analysts expect that ASML will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $1.5855 per share. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 25.67%.

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.