AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 1,611,555 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 42% from the previous session’s volume of 1,132,765 shares.The stock last traded at $11.6150 and had previously closed at $12.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXTI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Northland Securities set a $10.00 price target on AXT in a report on Friday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen raised AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Wedbush set a $7.00 target price on AXT and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00.

AXT Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $7.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $558.27 million, a PE ratio of -23.10 and a beta of 1.97.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $27.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.85 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 25.22% and a negative return on equity of 11.19%. On average, research analysts forecast that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.41, for a total transaction of $30,587.17. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 118,875 shares in the company, valued at $999,738.75. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total value of $894,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 207,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,857,231.36. This trade represents a 32.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 266,767 shares of company stock worth $2,537,058 in the last 90 days. 8.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in AXT in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AXT during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its position in shares of AXT by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 39,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 19,575 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $86,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AXT

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.