Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings raised Amtech Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amtech Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Amtech Systems in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amtech Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Amtech Systems Trading Down 7.9%

ASYS stock opened at $15.89 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.49. Amtech Systems has a 1-year low of $4.30 and a 1-year high of $25.71. The firm has a market cap of $231.36 million, a PE ratio of 93.47 and a beta of 1.98.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.05. Amtech Systems had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 3.11%.The company had revenue of $20.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.50 million. On average, analysts forecast that Amtech Systems will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Amtech Systems

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASYS. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Amtech Systems by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 133,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Amtech Systems by 9.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,318 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Amtech Systems by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 30,760 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 4,060 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Amtech Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Amtech Systems by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,790 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares during the period. 50.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Amtech Systems

Amtech Systems, Inc is a global supplier of capital equipment and aftermarket parts for the solar photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. The company’s solutions support key steps in wafer and cell production, offering both new machinery and spares designed to optimize yield, throughput and energy efficiency. Amtech operates through two primary segments: solar manufacturing and semiconductor & electronics packaging.

In its solar segment, Amtech provides diffusion furnaces, epitaxy reactors and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) systems used in high-volume solar cell fabrication.