ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading Up 1.3% – Should You Buy?

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) rose 1.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $1,025.00 and last traded at $1,020.00. Approximately 1,688,597 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 1,674,743 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,006.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Monday, October 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ASML in a research report on Monday. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of ASML from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings raised ASML from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded ASML from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,076.33.

ASML Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $980.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $830.69. The stock has a market cap of $401.15 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.88.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $6.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 27.08% and a return on equity of 47.74%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.28 earnings per share. ASML’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were paid a $1.857 dividend. This represents a $7.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 29th. ASML’s payout ratio is presently 25.76%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in ASML by 2.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,352,596 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,213,705,000 after purchasing an additional 108,342 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of ASML by 17.3% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,919,154 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,791,982,000 after acquiring an additional 577,448 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of ASML by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,148,506 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,079,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,435 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in ASML by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,933,748 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,861,445,000 after purchasing an additional 385,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of ASML by 8.3% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,865,254 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,805,733,000 after buying an additional 142,763 shares during the last quarter. 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.