Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $464,000 Investment in Amtech Systems, Inc. $ASYS

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Amtech Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASYS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 37,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 2.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 676,006 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,260,000 after buying an additional 17,099 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Amtech Systems in the third quarter worth about $1,689,000. Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 39.6% in the third quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 78,454 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 22,260 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 90.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 42,584 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 20,264 shares during the period. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Amtech Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $497,000. 50.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amtech Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ ASYS opened at $17.73 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.29 and a beta of 1.64. Amtech Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.26 and a 52-week high of $19.74.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.25 million. Amtech Systems had a negative return on equity of 1.53% and a negative net margin of 41.28%. On average, analysts predict that Amtech Systems, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Amtech Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Amtech Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Amtech Systems in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce”.

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.