ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) Increases Dividend to $1.64 Per Share

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of 1.6414 per share by the semiconductor company on Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $6.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This is a boost from ASML’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41.

ASML has raised its dividend payment by an average of 19.8% per year over the last three years. ASML has a payout ratio of 21.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect ASML to earn $31.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.8%.

ASML Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ ASML traded up $2.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $739.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,980,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,071,207. The company has a market capitalization of $290.86 billion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $718.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $777.78. 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 has a 12 month low of $645.45 and a 12 month high of $1,110.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $7.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.67 by ($0.37). ASML had a return on equity of 50.53% and a net margin of 26.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ASML will post 25.07 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on ASML from $1,300.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on ASML from $1,148.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank upgraded ASML from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on ASML from $790.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on ASML from $815.00 to $767.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, ASML has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $937.00.

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.