AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $16.35, but opened at $17.20. AXT shares last traded at $15.8840, with a volume of 1,575,830 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush set a $7.00 price target on AXT and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Northland Securities set a $20.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.50.

AXT Stock Up 2.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $926.33 million, a P/E ratio of -32.23 and a beta of 1.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $11.74 and its 200-day moving average is $6.17.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.85 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 25.22% and a negative return on equity of 11.19%. On average, analysts predict that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AXT news, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.41, for a total value of $30,587.17. Following the transaction, the director owned 118,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $999,738.75. This represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total value of $894,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 207,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,857,231.36. This trade represents a 32.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 326,767 shares of company stock valued at $3,329,808. 8.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AXT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AXTI. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in AXT during the second quarter worth $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the third quarter worth about $52,000. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AXT by 100.0% in the 2nd 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. Creative Planning bought a new position in AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in AXT by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,952 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT’s product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.