Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) Shares Down 4.4% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Axcelis Technologies shares fell 4.4% on Thursday, trading as low as $168.53 after closing at $178.33 the day before. Trading volume was far below average, with about 40,365 shares changing hands versus a daily average of 742,005.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with recent rating changes including Bank of America raising its price target to $156 while keeping an underperform rating, and B. Riley upgrading the stock to buy. Overall, the stock currently carries a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $130.25.
• The company’s latest earnings topped expectations, reporting $0.72 EPS on revenue of $198.96 million, both slightly ahead of estimates. Axcelis also said quarterly revenue rose 3.3% year over year, while insiders recently sold shares and institutional ownership remains high at 89.98%.

Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 4.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $168.53 and last traded at $170.4640. Approximately 40,365 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 742,005 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACLS shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Axcelis Technologies from $130.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Axcelis Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. B. Riley Financial raised Axcelis Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $130.25.

Axcelis Technologies Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.41, a P/E/G ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.59, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $160.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.26.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $198.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.03 million. Axcelis Technologies had a return on equity of 12.19% and a net margin of 11.93%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.900- EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axcelis Technologies

In other news, VP Todd Sutton sold 2,574 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.89, for a total transaction of $421,852.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 7,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,281,128.13. This represents a 24.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Kurtzweil sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.79, for a total value of $485,765.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 32,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,578,682.10. The trade was a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,795 shares of company stock worth $5,344,383. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Axcelis Technologies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Axcelis Technologies by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 213,388 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $17,144,000 after purchasing an additional 86,065 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in Axcelis Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,451,000. Burney Co. acquired a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $1,986,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 40,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,251,000 after purchasing an additional 22,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 24,798 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,992,000 after buying an additional 7,408 shares during the period. 89.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Axcelis Technologies Company Profile

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.

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