ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Key Points

• ACM Research shares opened sharply lower, falling from a prior close of $78.47 to $74.83 before recovering to about $77.68 in trading.
• Analyst sentiment remains moderately positive, with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.50, despite ratings ranging from Buy to Hold.
• The company beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.34 in EPS versus $0.26 expected and $231.26 million in revenue, up 34.2% year over year; however, insiders sold more than $10.7 million worth of shares over the past three months.

Shares of ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $78.47, but opened at $74.83. ACM Research shares last traded at $77.6810, with a volume of 265,044 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital set a $125.00 price target on shares of ACM Research and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of ACM Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ACM Research from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of ACM Research in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Seaport Research Partners started coverage on shares of ACM Research in a research note on Monday, May 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $127.50.

ACM Research Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.70 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.51.

ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.08. ACM Research had a return on equity of 4.17% and a net margin of 9.48%.The firm had revenue of $231.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.69 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 34.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ACM Research, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ACM Research

In other ACM Research news, insider Sotheara Cheav sold 5,399 shares of ACM Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.18, for a total transaction of $449,088.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 100,002 shares in the company, valued at $8,318,166.36. The trade was a 5.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David H. Wang sold 40,002 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total transaction of $3,432,171.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 802,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $68,872,346.40. This represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 123,752 shares of company stock worth $10,752,198 over the last three months. 24.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ACM Research

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in ACM Research by 16,878.8% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,860,874 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $70,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,849,914 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of ACM Research by 444.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,342,136 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $52,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,634 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of ACM Research by 1,406.4% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,082,982 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $42,740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011,088 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of ACM Research by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,392,306 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $54,926,000 after purchasing an additional 515,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of ACM Research by 207.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 719,023 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $28,286,000 after purchasing an additional 485,282 shares during the last quarter. 66.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ACM Research

ACM Research, Inc NASDAQ: ACMR designs, develops and markets wet processing equipment for the semiconductor industry. The company focuses on advanced wafer cleaning technologies that address critical contamination-control requirements for logic, memory and advanced packaging applications. Since its founding in 2003, ACM Research has engineered modular platform tools that can be configured for a range of spin, scrub and batch cleaning processes.

Its product portfolio encompasses single-wafer spin cleaning systems featuring high-purity megasonic capabilities, dynamic chemical scrubbing modules for post-CMP residue removal and batch-process cleaning equipment designed for high-throughput production environments.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.