Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on ACLS. B. Riley dropped their target price on Axcelis Technologies from $85.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Bank of America cut shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axcelis Technologies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.80.

Axcelis Technologies Stock Up 7.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:ACLS opened at $86.12 on Friday. Axcelis Technologies has a 1-year low of $40.40 and a 1-year high of $102.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.95 and a quick ratio of 3.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36 and a beta of 1.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.30.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The semiconductor company reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter. Axcelis Technologies had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The business had revenue of $252.42 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Axcelis Technologies will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axcelis Technologies

In other news, EVP Gerald M. Blumenstock sold 3,034 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.46, for a total transaction of $271,421.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,669,413.06. The trade was a 13.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jorge Titinger sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.05, for a total value of $172,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,395.85. This represents a 21.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Axcelis Technologies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 585 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Axcelis Technologies by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 50.3% in the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 481 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 2.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,243 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.98% of the company’s stock.

About Axcelis Technologies

Axcelis Technologies, Inc is a leading developer and manufacturer of ion implantation and cleaning equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips. The company specializes in high-current, medium-current and high-energy ion implantation systems, which are critical for introducing precisely controlled dopants into silicon wafers. Axcelis also offers plasma-based cleaning and dry strip tools that support advanced process nodes in logic, memory and power device manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio encompasses single-wafer and multi-wafer cluster tools designed to deliver high throughput, accuracy and uniformity for semiconductor process steps.