Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR)

ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 19,545 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 197% compared to the average volume of 6,574 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded ACM Research from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Roth Capital set a $125.00 price objective on shares of ACM Research and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ACM Research from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of ACM Research in a report on Monday, May 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of ACM Research in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David H. Wang sold 40,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total value of $3,432,171.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 802,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,872,346.40. This trade represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sotheara Cheav sold 5,399 shares of ACM Research stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.18, for a total value of $449,088.82. Following the transaction, the insider owned 100,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,318,166.36. This trade represents a 5.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 123,752 shares of company stock worth $10,752,198 in the last quarter. Insiders own 24.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACM Research

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ACM Research by 2.3% in the second quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,216 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of ACM Research by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,764 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of ACM Research by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in ACM Research by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 22,851 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $901,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Growth Capital LLC increased its holdings in ACM Research by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. First Growth Capital LLC now owns 5,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 66.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ACM Research Stock Performance

ACMR stock traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $80.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 556,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 981,516. The stock has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $91.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.51. ACM Research has a 1 year low of $24.14 and a 1 year high of $127.19.

ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $292.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.28 million. ACM Research had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 4.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that ACM Research will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

About ACM Research

ACM Research, Inc (NASDAQ:ACMR) designs, develops and markets wet processing equipment for the semiconductor industry. The company focuses on advanced wafer cleaning technologies that address critical contamination-control requirements for logic, memory and advanced packaging applications. Since its founding in 2003, ACM Research has engineered modular platform tools that can be configured for a range of spin, scrub and batch cleaning processes.

Its product portfolio encompasses single-wafer spin cleaning systems featuring high-purity megasonic capabilities, dynamic chemical scrubbing modules for post-CMP residue removal and batch-process cleaning equipment designed for high-throughput production environments.