Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 16,400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,127,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,435,039 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $724,219,000 after buying an additional 124,057 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,957,174 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $179,085,000 after buying an additional 180,011 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,132,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,594,000 after buying an additional 19,207 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Axcelis Technologies by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 970,409 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $158,225,000 after purchasing an additional 141,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Axcelis Technologies by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 638,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $85,014,000 after purchasing an additional 25,425 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACLS shares. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. B. Riley Financial dropped their target price on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Axcelis Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Axcelis Technologies news, EVP Douglas A. Lawson purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $111.04 per share, for a total transaction of $55,520.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,181,713.92. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Axcelis Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ACLS opened at $101.72 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.33. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.71, a current ratio of 3.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Axcelis Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.57 and a 52 week high of $201.00.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $310.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.92 million. Axcelis Technologies had a net margin of 21.78% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axcelis Technologies Company 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.