Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ASYS. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Amtech Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Amtech Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amtech Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Amtech Systems Stock Performance

ASYS stock opened at $14.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.62. Amtech Systems has a 12-month low of $6.18 and a 12-month high of $25.71. The firm has a market cap of $261.77 million, a P/E ratio of 57.50 and a beta of 2.01.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $22.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.50 million. Amtech Systems had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.33%. On average, research analysts forecast that Amtech Systems will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amtech Systems

In other news, CEO Guy Shechter bought 3,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $49,473.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 53,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,473. The trade was a 6.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 26.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amtech Systems

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amtech Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,925,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $6,260,000 after acquiring an additional 17,099 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 365,387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,268,000 after acquiring an additional 18,354 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Amtech Systems by 235.0% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 352,624 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,425,000 after acquiring an additional 247,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Amtech Systems by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 325,754 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,088,000 after acquiring an additional 150,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.21% of the company’s stock.

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.