Insider Selling: AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Director Sells 25,000 Shares of Stock

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) Director David Chang sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.84, for a total transaction of $371,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 132,744 shares in the company, valued at $1,969,920.96. This represents a 15.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

AXT Price Performance

AXTI stock traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.51. The company had a trading volume of 2,996,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,628. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.52. The company has a market capitalization of $723.08 million, a P/E ratio of -29.83 and a beta of 1.97. AXT Inc has a 1 year low of $1.13 and a 1 year high of $15.53.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $27.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.85 million. On average, equities analysts predict that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush set a $7.00 price target on shares of AXT and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted 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. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on shares of AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new stake in AXT during the 3rd quarter valued at $729,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of AXT by 39.7% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 205,822 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $924,000 after acquiring an additional 58,542 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT during the third quarter valued at about $136,000. Destination Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of AXT during the third quarter valued at about $458,000. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 339.6% during the third quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 405,978 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,823,000 after purchasing an additional 313,618 shares during the period. 49.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.