ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume After Dividend Announcement

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares saw strong trading volume on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. 1,463,408 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 10% from the previous session’s volume of 1,335,170 shares.The stock last traded at $685.66 and had previously closed at $683.52.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Sunday, November 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be paid a $1.407 dividend. 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 currently 28.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASML has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley cut ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,018.00.

ASML Stock Up 3.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $285.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.94, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $834.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $916.47.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. ASML had a net margin of 26.50% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.37 EPS. ASML’s revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ASML Holding will post 20.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $910,102,000 after acquiring an additional 870,010 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 572,996 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co bought a new position in shares of ASML in the 1st quarter valued at about $542,710,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 1,657,878 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,608,921,000 after purchasing an additional 294,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of ASML by 11,084.1% during the 1st 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 period. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ASML Company Profile

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.