Short Interest in ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Grows By 73.2%

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, an increase of 73.2% from the August 31st total of 646,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

ASML Price Performance

ASML traded down $10.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $841.54. 1,038,367 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,262,185. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $331.08 billion, a PE ratio of 42.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $855.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $933.98. ASML has a 1 year low of $563.99 and a 1 year high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The semiconductor company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 26.50%. The business’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ASML will post 20.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASML Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $1.8732 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This is a positive change from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $7.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASML has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of ASML from $1,150.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group downgraded ASML from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays raised shares of ASML from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of ASML from $1,172.00 to $1,202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of ASML from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,147.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASML in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new stake in ASML in the second quarter worth $26,000. WD Rutherford LLC bought a new stake in ASML in the first quarter worth $29,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in ASML during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASML during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.