AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Sold by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp lowered its position in AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,358 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 12,000 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.17% of AXT worth $161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AXT by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,937,424 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,204,000 after acquiring an additional 766,122 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AXT by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 915,460 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after acquiring an additional 106,121 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in AXT in the fourth quarter valued at $145,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in AXT in the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in AXT by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 35,237 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 14,737 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AXTI opened at $1.73 on Wednesday. AXT, Inc. has a one year low of $1.13 and a one year high of $4.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.79. The stock has a market cap of $78.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.16 and a beta of 1.96.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.07). AXT had a negative return on equity of 5.27% and a negative net margin of 11.70%. On average, equities research analysts predict that AXT, Inc. will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded AXT to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on AXT from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $4.50 price objective on shares of AXT in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.75.

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.