Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after B. Riley Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $94.00 to $91.00. The stock had previously closed at $98.50, but opened at $79.28. B. Riley Financial currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Axcelis Technologies shares last traded at $82.0590, with a volume of 2,517,533 shares traded.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Axcelis Technologies in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Axcelis Technologies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Axcelis Technologies news, Director Jorge Titinger sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.05, for a total transaction of $172,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,477 shares in the company, valued at $643,395.85. This trade represents a 21.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gerald M. Blumenstock sold 3,034 shares of Axcelis Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.46, for a total transaction of $271,421.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,669,413.06. The trade was a 13.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Axcelis Technologies in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Axcelis Technologies during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 89.98% of the company’s stock.

Axcelis Technologies Trading Down 1.7%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.60. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 3.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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