AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Stock Price Down 6.3% – Should You Sell?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) traded down 6.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $50.03 and last traded at $53.3920. 4,766,032 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 9,072,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group set a $35.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AXT has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.80.

AXT Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.59. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -102.37 and a beta of 1.75.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $23.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.24 million. AXT had a negative return on equity of 9.50% and a negative net margin of 24.07%. On average, research analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 159,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.32, for a total transaction of $6,911,099.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,482,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $107,521,886.16. This trade represents a 6.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 20,000 shares of AXT stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.53, for a total transaction of $770,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 112,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,344,026.32. This trade represents a 15.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 502,278 shares of company stock valued at $21,196,754 in the last quarter. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter valued at about $98,000. Oasis Management Co Ltd. bought a new stake in AXT during the fourth quarter worth about $164,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in AXT by 1,071.5% during the fourth quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 11,012 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,000 after acquiring an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in AXT during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AXT Company Profile

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.