AXT Inc $AXTI Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 56.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,170 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 22,185 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AXT were worth $1,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in AXT in the 2nd quarter worth $365,607,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of AXT during the second quarter valued at about $46,062,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of AXT during the second quarter valued at about $25,911,000. Rokos Capital Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of AXT during the first quarter worth about $18,842,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of AXT by 1,347.0% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 312,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,561,000 after acquiring an additional 291,368 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total value of $384,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 113,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,868,303.03. The trade was a 3.42% 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. Company insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

AXT Trading Down 3.9%

AXTI stock traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $41.84. 10,606,352 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,823,147. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 92.98 and a beta of 2.01. AXT Inc has a twelve month low of $8.44 and a twelve month high of $143.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.24.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $73.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.00 million. AXT had a net margin of 18.53% and a return on equity of 5.21%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AXTI. Wall Street Zen upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on AXT from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on AXT in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised AXT from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.80.

AXT Profile

AXT, Inc. develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrate materials used to make electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its products include indium phosphide, gallium arsenide and germanium substrates, supplied in wafer form for use by semiconductor manufacturers. These materials support applications such as fiber-optic and data communications, wireless devices, lasers, LEDs and solar cells. AXT also provides substrate processing services, including wafer polishing and finishing. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT serves customers around the world.