Zacks Research Downgrades Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) to Hold

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Amtech Systems Trading Down 7.9%

ASYS stock opened at $15.89 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.00 and a 200-day moving average of $16.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.36 million, a P/E ratio of 93.47 and a beta of 1.98. Amtech Systems has a 12 month low of $4.30 and a 12 month high of $25.71.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.05. Amtech Systems had a net margin of 3.11% and a return on equity of 5.58%. The business had revenue of $20.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.50 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Amtech Systems will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amtech Systems

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ASYS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 135.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 30,066 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 17,297 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amtech Systems by 90.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 42,584 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 20,264 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Amtech Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $105,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 676,006 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,260,000 after acquiring an additional 17,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Amtech Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $1,689,000. 50.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amtech Systems Company Profile

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.