AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Short Interest Down 10.4% in April

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,730,000 shares, a drop of 10.4% from the March 31st total of 1,930,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXTI has been the subject of a number of research reports. B. Riley lifted their price target on AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a report on Monday, April 8th. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AXT by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AXT during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of AXT during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. James Investment Research Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AXT during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AXT during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Stock Performance

AXTI opened at $3.00 on Wednesday. AXT has a one year low of $1.89 and a one year high of $5.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.75 million, a PE ratio of -6.98 and a beta of 2.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.92.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.05. AXT had a negative return on equity of 7.80% and a negative net margin of 23.59%. The company had revenue of $20.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.62 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AXT will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates. The company offers indium phosphide for use in data center connectivity using light/lasers, high-speed data transfer in data centers, 5G communications, fiber optic lasers and detectors, consumer devices, passive optical networks, silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, thermo-photovoltaics, RF amplifier and switching, infrared light-emitting diode (LEDS) motion control, lidar for robotics and autonomous vehicles, and infrared thermal imaging.