Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $595,000 in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. $ACLS

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 6,094 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACLS. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 145.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 451 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Axcelis Technologies by 129.0% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 545 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Axcelis Technologies during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 48.5% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,105 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACLS shares. Zacks Research lowered Axcelis Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Axcelis Technologies in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. DA Davidson lifted 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. Bank of America lowered shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.80.

Insider Transactions at Axcelis Technologies

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

Axcelis Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of ACLS stock opened at $89.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 1.73. Axcelis Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.40 and a fifty-two week high of $102.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.32 and a current ratio of 4.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.79.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The semiconductor company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter. Axcelis Technologies had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company had revenue of $252.42 million for the quarter. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.120-1.120 EPS. Analysts expect that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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.