Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Cuts Stake in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. $ACLS

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management cut its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 46.3% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 29,121 shares valued at about $2.51 million.
• Several insider sales were disclosed, including CEO Russell Low selling 7,468 shares and Director Jorge Titinger selling 1,000 shares, while insiders currently own just 0.49% of the company.
• Axcelis reported Q1 earnings of $0.72 per share, slightly above estimates, on revenue of $198.96 million, and the stock was trading around $165.08 with analysts' average rating at Hold and a $116.25 price target.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS - Free Report) by 46.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,121 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 25,100 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Axcelis Technologies worth $2,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACLS. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Axcelis Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Axcelis Technologies by 145.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 451 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in Axcelis Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in Axcelis Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Axcelis Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 89.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACLS. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $116.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jorge Titinger sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,477 shares in the company, valued at $518,160. This trade represents a 13.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell Low sold 7,468 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.75, for a total value of $1,170,609.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 123,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,369,597.50. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,956 shares of company stock valued at $1,540,361. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Axcelis Technologies Trading Up 1.3%

ACLS stock opened at $165.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $108.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.85. Axcelis Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.93 and a fifty-two week high of $171.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.59. The firm has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 51.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 19.49 and a beta of 1.93.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.01. Axcelis Technologies had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 12.19%. The firm had revenue of $198.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Axcelis Technologies's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.900- EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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