ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Stock Jumps 1.6% – Should You Buy?

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price was up 1.6% on Monday. The company traded as high as $1,784.56 and last traded at $1,771.41. Approximately 1,366,263 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 1,766,620 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,743.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ASML. Wall Street Zen cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on ASML from $1,700.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded ASML from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. DZ Bank raised ASML from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,970.33.

ASML Trading Up 1.6%

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,716.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,629.65. The firm has a market cap of $696.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.79. 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 released its earnings results on Sunday, June 28th. The semiconductor company reported $8.65 EPS for the quarter. ASML had a net margin of 30.11% and a return on equity of 52.71%. The business had revenue of $10.62 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts expect that ASML Holding N.V. will post 44.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of ASML by 195.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,544,705 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,652,618,000 after buying an additional 1,022,532 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in ASML by 31.7% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,459,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,892,869,000 after acquiring an additional 592,125 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in ASML by 223.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 287,225 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $379,368,000 after acquiring an additional 198,505 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ASML by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 669,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $716,790,000 after acquiring an additional 140,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in ASML by 498.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 156,791 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $311,926,000 after acquiring an additional 130,573 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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 projects patterns onto silicon wafers, enabling the creation of increasingly smaller and more powerful semiconductor features.

ASML’s product portfolio includes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems, and related metrology and inspection solutions.