ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,270,000 shares, an increase of 8.5% from the October 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

ASML Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of ASML opened at $658.63 on Monday. ASML has a 52 week low of $654.77 and a 52 week high of $1,110.09. The firm has a market cap of $259.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $756.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $881.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.55.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The semiconductor company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.56. ASML had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 47.61%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. On average, analysts forecast that ASML will post 20.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a $1.407 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $5.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.21%.

Institutional Trading of ASML

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 80,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Savoie Capital LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Savoie Capital LLC now owns 25,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Goodman Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,042 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,535,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in ASML in the 3rd quarter valued at about $882,000. Finally, Executive Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in ASML by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ASML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of ASML from $1,207.00 to $1,148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ASML from $1,052.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group lowered shares of ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $970.60.

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.