AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Up 9.9% – Here’s Why

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) shares shot up 9.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $14.07 and last traded at $13.9740. 2,548,932 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 120% from the average session volume of 1,158,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXTI shares. Wedbush set a $7.00 price target on AXT and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Northland Securities set a $10.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00.

AXT Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $691.09 million, a PE ratio of -28.58 and a beta of 1.97.

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

Insider Activity at AXT

In other news, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 118,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,738.75. This represents a 2.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 2,439,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,101,588.50. The trade was a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 301,767 shares of company stock valued at $2,958,808 in the last three months. 8.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 227,333 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its position in AXT by 100.0% during the second quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 39,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 19,575 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in AXT during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. White Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in AXT by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 860,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 23,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AXT in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Company Profile

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.