ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Cut to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat reports.

ASML has been the subject of several other research reports. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of ASML from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded ASML from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $1,147.80.

ASML Stock Performance

Shares of ASML opened at $795.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $870.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $939.21. The stock has a market cap of $313.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.62, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. ASML has a 12-month low of $563.99 and a 12-month high of $1,110.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. ASML’s revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that ASML will post 20.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $1.8732 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASML

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ASML by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,967,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,760,348,000 after buying an additional 95,795 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASML by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,668,386,000 after acquiring an additional 572,996 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in ASML by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after purchasing an additional 294,784 shares during the period. Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ASML by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,617,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,224,002,000 after purchasing an additional 121,847 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in ASML by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,282,396 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,311,545,000 after purchasing an additional 170,992 shares in the last quarter. 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.