ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Short Interest Down 9.0% in March

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 759,400 shares, a drop of 9.0% from the March 15th total of 834,700 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASML

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in ASML by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,359 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,767,464,000 after acquiring an additional 105,196 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of ASML by 3.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,607,702 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,123,710,000 after purchasing an additional 126,413 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ASML by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,617,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,224,002,000 after purchasing an additional 121,847 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in ASML by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,247,197 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $944,028,000 after buying an additional 32,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in ASML by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,173,324 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $888,112,000 after buying an additional 24,368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

ASML Trading Up 2.0 %

ASML stock traded up $19.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $973.83. The stock had a trading volume of 715,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,185,413. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $959.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $787.55. ASML has a twelve month low of $563.99 and a twelve month high of $1,056.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $384.26 billion, a PE ratio of 44.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.49.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. ASML had a return on equity of 68.32% and a net margin of 28.44%. Analysts expect that ASML will post 20.46 EPS for the current year.

ASML Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $1.343 dividend. This represents a $5.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. ASML’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on ASML from $830.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of ASML from $850.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of ASML from $1,072.00 to $1,052.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded ASML from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on ASML in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Five 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. According to MarketBeat.com, ASML presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,036.00.

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.