ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Down 0.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) dropped 0.2% during trading on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on the stock from $815.00 to $767.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. ASML traded as low as $659.61 and last traded at $670.48. Approximately 1,231,751 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 1,985,718 shares. The stock had previously closed at $671.97.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price target on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $961.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ASML. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $2,654,921,000 after buying an additional 31,879 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in shares of ASML by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,855,624,000 after buying an additional 70,776 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of ASML by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,464,061,000 after buying an additional 474,653 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,102,000 after buying an additional 870,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of ASML by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $836,300,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $734.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $867.34. The firm has a market cap of $263.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $1.407 dividend. This represents a $5.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

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.