ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Down 1.6% – Time to Sell?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was down 1.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $656.78 and last traded at $658.39. Approximately 869,105 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 1,414,735 shares. The stock had previously closed at $669.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ASML shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $970.60.

ASML Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $763.40 and a 200 day moving average of $886.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $262.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hilltop National Bank increased its stake in ASML by 1.0% during 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 during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in ASML by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,134 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in ASML by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.