Renaissance Technologies LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Amtech Systems, Inc. $ASYS

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its stake in Amtech Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASYS) by 26.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,096 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 38,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.75% of Amtech Systems worth $1,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in Amtech Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $497,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amtech Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $464,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Amtech Systems by 104.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 47,282 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amtech Systems by 90.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 42,584 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 20,264 shares during the period. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in Amtech Systems during the third quarter worth about $174,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ASYS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amtech Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Zacks Research cut Amtech Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Amtech Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Amtech Systems in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amtech Systems has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Amtech Systems Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of ASYS opened at $16.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.58. The company has a market capitalization of $280.16 million, a PE ratio of 61.54 and a beta of 2.02. Amtech Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.90 and a 52-week high of $25.71.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $22.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 anticipate that Amtech Systems, Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

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.