AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $51.47, but opened at $55.33. AXT shares last traded at $56.2420, with a volume of 2,360,076 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXTI has been the topic of several analyst reports. B. Riley Financial dropped their price target on shares of AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AXT from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of AXT from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

AXT Trading Up 12.0%

The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,877.90 and a beta of 1.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $70.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.21.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.12. AXT had a return on equity of 0.96% and a net margin of 3.23%. The company had revenue of $47.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 million. AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. On average, analysts predict that AXT Inc will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AXT

In other news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total value of $384,280.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 113,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,868,303.03. This trade represents a 3.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in AXT in the 3rd quarter valued at $834,000. Dupree Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 14,349 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 3,881.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AXT by 79.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in AXT by 1,347.0% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 312,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,561,000 after purchasing an additional 291,368 shares during the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrate materials used in high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its primary products include gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, which serve as the foundation for semiconductor components.

The company’s substrates are used in applications such as fiber-optic communications, data-center and telecommunications equipment, wireless infrastructure, radio-frequency devices, lasers, light-emitting diodes, and certain solar cells.