Short Interest in ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR) Decreases By 14.5%

Key Points

• Short interest fell 14.5% to 2,666,276 shares as of April 15, equal to 5.9% of shares sold short and a short-interest ratio of 3.1 days.
• Insiders sold 65,000 shares worth $3.11M in the last quarter — including Director Charles C. Pappis (5,000 shares at $52) and Tracy Liu (15,000 shares at $47.91) — though insiders still own 25% of the company.
• Institutional ownership is high at 66.75% with Vanguard, LSV and Morgan Stanley increasing stakes, while analysts' consensus is a Hold with an average price target of $40, below the recent ~ $52 share price.

ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,666,276 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the March 31st total of 3,119,153 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 857,402 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 5.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles C. Pappis sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total transaction of $260,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Tracy Liu sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.91, for a total transaction of $718,650.00. Following the sale, the director owned 110,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,307,086.52. This trade represents a 11.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 65,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,110,750 in the last quarter. Insiders own 25.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ACM Research by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,972,103 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $196,149,000 after purchasing an additional 125,690 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of ACM Research by 462.9% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,504,305 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $97,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,405 shares in the last quarter. Triata Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of ACM Research by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Triata Capital Ltd now owns 2,003,225 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $78,386,000 after purchasing an additional 413,000 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in ACM Research by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,392,306 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $54,926,000 after acquiring an additional 515,340 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ACM Research by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,342,899 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $52,986,000 after acquiring an additional 19,397 shares during the period. 66.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ACM Research Price Performance

ACM Research stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.22. The company had a trading volume of 347,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,346,777. ACM Research has a 1 year low of $19.09 and a 1 year high of $71.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.11 and a beta of 1.69. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $49.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.74.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ACMR shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ACM Research from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ACM Research from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of ACM Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

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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