Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) Reaches New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday after B. Riley Financial upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. B. Riley Financial now has a $150.00 price target on the stock. Axcelis Technologies traded as high as $124.19 and last traded at $126.2780, with a volume of 93277 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $118.73.

Several other research firms have also commented on ACLS. Bank of America boosted their price target on Axcelis Technologies from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Axcelis Technologies in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Axcelis Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Axcelis Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.25.

Insider Activity at Axcelis Technologies

In related news, CEO Russell Low sold 1,244 shares of Axcelis Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.06, for a total value of $117,010.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,442,444.92. The trade was a 0.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jorge Titinger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,477 shares in the company, valued at $518,160. The trade was a 13.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACLS. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the third quarter worth $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 145.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 451 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the third quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.98% of the company’s stock.

Axcelis Technologies Stock Up 5.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.77 and a quick ratio of 3.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32, a PEG ratio of 14.19 and a beta of 1.65.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The semiconductor company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.37. Axcelis Technologies had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 14.33%.The company had revenue of $238.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.710-0.710 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 2.55 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.