AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the four brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $5.30.

AXTI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Tuesday. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on shares of AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Monday, April 8th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in AXT by 866.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 256,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 230,013 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management bought a new stake in AXT in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in AXT by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,232,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after purchasing an additional 21,973 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in AXT by 127.3% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 377,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 211,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC bought a new stake in AXT in the third quarter valued at $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Price Performance

Shares of AXT stock opened at $3.43 on Friday. AXT has a fifty-two week low of $1.89 and a fifty-two week high of $5.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.78 million, a P/E ratio of -7.98 and a beta of 2.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.87.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.05. AXT had a negative net margin of 23.59% and a negative return on equity of 7.80%. The firm had revenue of $20.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.62 million. On average, analysts expect that AXT will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.