AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.75.

AXTI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush set a $7.00 price objective on AXT and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price objective on AXT in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, B. Riley lowered shares of AXT from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $9.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday.

Insider Transactions at AXT

In other news, Director David C. Chang sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total transaction of $894,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 207,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,857,231.36. This trade represents a 32.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of AXT stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.41, for a total value of $30,587.17. Following the sale, the director owned 118,875 shares in the company, valued at $999,738.75. The trade was a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 326,767 shares of company stock worth $3,329,808 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AXT by 75.0% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 530,269 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 227,333 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 293,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its stake in AXT by 100.0% in 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. Creative Planning purchased a new position in AXT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, White Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in AXT by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 860,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after buying an additional 23,467 shares in the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of AXT stock traded down $2.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,403,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,635,078. AXT has a one year low of $1.13 and a one year high of $26.30. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.70 and a beta of 1.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.69.

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

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT’s product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.