Short Interest in AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Declines By 21.2%

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 665,400 shares, a drop of 21.2% from the September 15th total of 844,900 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 295,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $127,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AXT in the second quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of AXT by 206.8% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 166,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 111,934 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 135.1% during the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 173,726 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 99,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in AXT by 1,142.1% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 377,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 347,200 shares during the period. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AXT Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AXTI traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $2.50. 170,843 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,090,252. AXT has a twelve month low of $1.89 and a twelve month high of $5.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.25 and a beta of 2.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.14.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.50 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 14.75% and a negative return on equity of 5.87%. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AXT will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.