Janus Henderson Group PLC Acquires 56,654 Shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS)

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS - Free Report) by 167.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,508 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 56,654 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 0.28% of Axcelis Technologies worth $6,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 1,153.8% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 489 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 627 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,371 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 78,037.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 782,155 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $54,649,000 after purchasing an additional 781,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.98% of the company's stock.

Axcelis Technologies Price Performance

ACLS stock traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.32. 326,436 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 649,503. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.40. Axcelis Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.40 and a 1-year high of $158.61. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48, a PEG ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 4.05, a current ratio of 5.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.65. Axcelis Technologies had a return on equity of 21.02% and a net margin of 19.75%. The firm had revenue of $192.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.86 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. The business's revenue was down 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Axcelis Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 5.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ACLS. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Axcelis Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. B. Riley restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $50.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Axcelis Technologies in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of Axcelis Technologies from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Axcelis Technologies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.00.

Insider Transactions at Axcelis Technologies

In other news, Director John T. Kurtzweil sold 1,682 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.93, for a total transaction of $104,166.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,170,646.50. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Axcelis Technologies Profile

Axcelis Technologies, Inc designs, manufactures, and services ion implantation and other processing equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The company offers high energy, high current, and medium current implanters for various application requirements.