ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Stock Price Down 5.2% – What’s Next?

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares fell 5.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $686.60 and last traded at $692.48. 4,277,337 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 229% from the average session volume of 1,301,981 shares. The stock had previously closed at $730.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ASML. Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays upgraded ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,018.00.

ASML Trading Up 3.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $285.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $837.18 and a 200-day moving average of $918.35.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, November 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be given a dividend of $1.407 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. ASML’s payout ratio is 28.50%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of ASML by 50.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,719,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,668,386,000 after buying an additional 572,996 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new stake in shares of ASML in the first quarter worth about $542,710,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of ASML by 21.6% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,608,921,000 after buying an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of ASML by 11,084.1% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 246,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $238,784,000 after buying an additional 243,850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.