ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) Trading 2.1% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• ASML's stock price rose by 2.1% following an upgrade from UBS Group, moving from a neutral to a buy rating.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy average rating for ASML, with a consensus price target of $923.80.
• The company announced an increased quarterly dividend of $1.856 per share, reflecting a payout ratio of 26.21%.

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 2.1% during trading on Friday after UBS Group upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $782.13 and last traded at $769.50. 808,003 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 1,701,161 shares. The stock had previously closed at $753.43.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ASML. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of ASML in a report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut ASML from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on ASML from $840.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of ASML from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of ASML in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $923.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in ASML by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,574 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $22,576,000 after buying an additional 5,723 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of ASML by 38.4% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 476 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP bought a new position in ASML during the fourth quarter worth $2,490,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main bought a new position in ASML during the fourth quarter worth $5,816,000. Finally, Dimension Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ASML by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 831 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ASML Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $749.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $726.10. The stock has a market cap of $303.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.80.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The semiconductor company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.94 by ($1.39). The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.72 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.47% and a net margin of 26.95%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.01 earnings per share. ASML has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts expect that ASML Holding N.V. will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a dividend of $1.856 per share. This represents a $7.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. This is a positive change from ASML's previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. ASML's payout ratio is 26.21%.

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.

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