ARGA Investment Management LP Purchases 22,874 Shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. $ACLS

Key Points

• ARGA Investment Management boosted its Axcelis Technologies stake by 123.4% in the first quarter, buying 22,874 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 41,408 shares worth about $3.85 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with several other funds also adding to positions; overall, about 89.98% of Axcelis shares are held by institutional investors.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but slightly cautious: the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” with a $130.25 average price target, even as some firms recently raised their ratings or price objectives.

ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS - Free Report) by 123.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,408 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 22,874 shares during the quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP owned approximately 0.13% of Axcelis Technologies worth $3,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 67.6% during 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 position in Axcelis Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $1,451,000. Burney Co. purchased a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $1,986,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its position in Axcelis Technologies by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 24,798 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,992,000 after buying an additional 7,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Axcelis Technologies by 129.0% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 40,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,251,000 after buying an additional 22,792 shares in the last quarter. 89.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ACLS shares. B. Riley Financial raised Axcelis Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $130.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report 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 note on Tuesday, May 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $130.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gerald M. Blumenstock sold 1,161 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.70, for a total value of $177,284.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 20,493 shares in the company, valued at $3,129,281.10. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Todd Sutton sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.99, for a total transaction of $319,980.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 6,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,017,536.40. This represents a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 34,795 shares of company stock valued at $5,344,383. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Axcelis Technologies Price Performance

NASDAQ ACLS opened at $143.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.66, a PEG ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.59 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $160.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.80. Axcelis Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.64 and a 1 year high of $193.78.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $198.96 million during 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 revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. 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 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.

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