ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Gap Down to $666.04

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $666.04, but opened at $637.63. ASML shares last traded at $635.67, with a volume of 217,522 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ASML. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of ASML from $775.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. New Street Research cut ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 16th. Societe Generale downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of ASML from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $810.00 to $785.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $730.18.

ASML Stock Down 4.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $251.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $689.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $673.32.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The semiconductor company reported $5.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.39. ASML had a net margin of 28.67% and a return on equity of 79.17%. The business had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that ASML Holding will post 21.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 2nd were paid a $1.6281 dividend. This represents a $6.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 1st. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. ASML’s payout ratio is currently 13.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in ASML in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in ASML in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC purchased a new position in ASML during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of ASML during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ASML in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.94% of the company’s stock.

ASML Company Profile

ASML Holding NV engages in the development, production, marketing, sales, upgrading and servicing of advanced semiconductor equipment systems. It includes lithography, metrology and inspection systems. It operates through the following geographical segments: Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Chine, Rest of Asia, Netherlands, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and United States.