ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Stock Price Up 5.2% – Still a Buy?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)’s stock price traded up 5.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $709.90 and last traded at $708.70. 1,660,960 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 17% from the average session volume of 1,423,018 shares. The stock had previously closed at $673.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ASML shares. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Up 3.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $274.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51. 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 50 day moving average price of $760.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $884.66.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS 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. As a group, analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.77 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. ASML’s payout ratio is 29.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

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

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.