Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Amtech Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Amtech Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Amtech Systems in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amtech Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Amtech Systems Price Performance

Amtech Systems stock opened at $14.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $256.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.23 and a beta of 2.02. Amtech Systems has a one year low of $5.63 and a one year high of $25.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.53.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $22.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.50 million. Amtech Systems had a return on equity of 6.33% and a net margin of 4.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amtech Systems will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amtech Systems

In related news, CEO Guy Shechter bought 3,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $14.34 per share, for a total transaction of $49,473.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 53,450 shares in the company, valued at $766,473. This trade represents a 6.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 26.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amtech Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASYS. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Amtech Systems during the 2nd quarter worth about $86,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amtech Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $88,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Amtech Systems during the second quarter worth about $105,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in Amtech Systems during the third quarter valued at about $111,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amtech Systems during the third quarter valued at about $135,000. 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.