AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $13.20 and last traded at $12.24, with a volume of 1822127 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AXTI shares. 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 research report on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush set a $7.00 price target on AXT and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen raised AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $10.00 target price on AXT in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.00.

AXT Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $7.75 and a 200 day moving average of $4.35. The firm has a market cap of $570.54 million, a P/E ratio of -23.37 and a beta of 1.97.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $27.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, analysts expect that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of AXT stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.41, for a total value of $30,587.17. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 118,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,738.75. The trade was a 2.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.65, for a total transaction of $692,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,439,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,101,588.50. This represents a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 266,767 shares of company stock worth $2,537,058. 8.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in AXT by 75.0% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 530,269 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 227,333 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of AXT by 2.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 293,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AXT by 100.0% in the second quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 39,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 19,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning acquired a new stake in shares of AXT in the second quarter worth $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.