ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Shares Down 2.5% - Should You Sell?

Shares of ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) fell 2.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $694.47 and last traded at $695.83. 316,996 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 1,447,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $713.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ASML from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,000.00 to $790.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised ASML to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $943.83.

ASML Stock Down 2.4 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $694.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $825.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 47.61% and a net margin of 26.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML Holding will post 20.68 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $1.407 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. ASML's payout ratio is 29.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ASML by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,186,222 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,654,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ASML by 3.3% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,226,971 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,855,624,000 after buying an additional 70,776 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of ASML by 37.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,757,049 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,464,061,000 after buying an additional 474,653 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of ASML by 4,379.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 889,875 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $910,102,000 after acquiring an additional 870,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of ASML by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 817,709 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $836,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.