ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ASML. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $2,100.00 price target on shares of ASML in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Zacks Research cut ASML from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,079.12.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML opened at $1,647.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $647.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,737.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,675.89. ASML has a 12-month low of $946.11 and a 12-month high of $1,999.96.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Sunday, September 27th. The semiconductor company reported $14.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $13.27 billion for the quarter. ASML had a net margin of 34.10% and a return on equity of 64.24%. As a group, research analysts predict that ASML will post 45.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 27th will be given a dividend of $2.1077 per share. This represents a $8.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a drop from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.1507. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 27th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.90%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 11.1% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,913,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 1.3% in the third quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC now owns 834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 5.9% in the third quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 217 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP grew its stake in ASML by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its stake in ASML by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 496 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $899,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ASML

ASML Holding N.V. is a Netherlands-based technology company that develops and manufactures advanced lithography systems used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce integrated circuits. Its equipment helps customers transfer intricate circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, a critical step in the production of processors, memory chips and other semiconductor devices.

ASML’s product portfolio includes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, which support the production of the most advanced chips, as well as deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems for a broad range of semiconductor applications.