ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Up 2.9% After Analyst Upgrade

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)’s share price was up 2.9% during trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $1,092.00 to $1,331.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. ASML traded as high as $1,141.72 and last traded at $1,140.92. Approximately 2,054,568 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 23% from the average daily volume of 1,674,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,108.78.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of ASML in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ASML from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,171.83.

Institutional Trading of ASML

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its stake in 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. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the 1st quarter worth $360,262,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of ASML during the 3rd quarter worth about $505,510,000. Regents of The University of California acquired a new stake in shares of ASML during the 3rd quarter worth about $413,335,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in ASML by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,933,748 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,861,445,000 after buying an additional 385,502 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $436.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.18, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,025.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $860.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $6.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were given a $1.857 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 29th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $7.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.80%.

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.