Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Axcelis Technologies, Inc. $ACLS

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 210,202 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,177 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.68% of Axcelis Technologies worth $19,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACLS. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Axcelis Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Axcelis Technologies by 145.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 451 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Axcelis Technologies by 197.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 719 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACLS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Axcelis Technologies from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Axcelis Technologies from $130.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. B. Riley Financial raised Axcelis Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Axcelis Technologies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.25.

Insider Transactions at Axcelis Technologies

In related news, CEO Russell Low sold 7,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.75, for a total transaction of $1,170,609.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 123,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,369,597.50. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gregory B. Graves sold 3,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.61, for a total transaction of $456,692.25. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,031.53. This trade represents a 37.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,795 shares of company stock valued at $5,344,383. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Axcelis Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ACLS opened at $143.21 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $158.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.59 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 44.61, a PEG ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 1.88. Axcelis Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.64 and a 1-year high of $193.78.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.01. Axcelis Technologies had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 12.19%. The company had revenue of $198.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Axcelis Technologies’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.900- EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Axcelis Technologies

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.