ACM Research, Inc. $ACMR Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group reduced its ACM Research stake by 11.1% in the first quarter, selling 42,405 shares and leaving it with 340,724 shares valued at about $13.4 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but constructive: ACM Research has a Moderate Buy consensus, with a $127.50 average target price after several upgrades, downgrades, and a new buy rating from Seaport Research Partners.
• The company posted a strong quarterly beat, reporting $0.34 EPS versus $0.26 expected and revenue of $231.26 million, up 34.2% year over year; however, insiders have sold 123,752 shares over the past three months.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR - Free Report) by 11.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 340,724 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 42,405 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.56% of ACM Research worth $13,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of ACM Research by 90.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 650 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ACM Research by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 660 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in shares of ACM Research in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in ACM Research by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,070 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ACM Research by 656.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. 66.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ACMR shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of ACM Research in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ACM Research from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of ACM Research in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. 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 for the company. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of ACM Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research 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, ACM Research presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $127.50.

Insider Transactions at ACM Research

In related news, Director Haiping Dun sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.22, for a total value of $331,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $331,100. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sotheara Cheav sold 13,351 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.15, for a total transaction of $1,136,837.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 100,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,515,170.30. This represents a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 123,752 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,198 in the last three months. 24.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ACM Research Price Performance

NASDAQ:ACMR opened at $84.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. ACM Research, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.03 and a 52 week high of $127.19. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $92.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 64.37 and a beta of 1.90.

ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $231.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $215.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. ACM Research's quarterly revenue was up 34.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that ACM Research, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ACM Research Company Profile

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.

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