Insider Selling: AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Director Sells 20,000 Shares of Stock

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) Director David Chang sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.53, for a total transaction of $770,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 112,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,344,026.32. The trade was a 15.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

AXT Price Performance

NASDAQ AXTI traded down $0.34 on Thursday, hitting $38.79. The stock had a trading volume of 6,417,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,180,506. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -80.81 and a beta of 1.75. AXT Inc has a 52-week low of $1.13 and a 52-week high of $47.03.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.01). AXT had a negative return on equity of 10.59% and a negative net margin of 24.07%.The business had revenue of $23.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.24 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Trending Headlines about AXT

Here are the key news stories impacting AXT this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional funds added meaningful Q4 2025 positions (examples cited: Davidson Kempner, Hood River, Point72), which provides medium‑term demand/support under the stock. Quiver Quantitative
• Positive Sentiment: Brainhole Technology disclosed it reinvested proceeds into AXT shares, signalling an external buyer allocating capital to the name. TipRanks
• Positive Sentiment: Positive long‑term return story highlighted by Benzinga (shows how a 15‑year investment in AXT performed), which can support retail investor interest over time. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest figures in the feeds are inconsistent/zero (0/NaN), so there’s no clear short‑interest or short‑squeeze signal to explain intraday moves.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains mixed — several firms have set targets across a wide range and consensus is around a “Hold” with an average target near the low‑to‑mid $20s, so no strong one‑way analyst catalyst is apparent.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Morris Young sold 159,536 shares (~$6.9M at reported averages) on Mar 2 — a material insider disposition that likely weighed on sentiment. InsiderTrades
• Negative Sentiment: Director Jesse Chen executed two recent sales (11,320 and 11,007 shares on Mar 2–3), and aggregate insider activity shows heavy net selling recently — a negative governance/sentiment signal that likely amplified selling pressure. InsiderTrades Quiver Quantitative
• Negative Sentiment: Recent Q4 earnings missed estimates (EPS and revenue slightly below consensus) and the company reported negative margins — results that increase sensitivity to headline news and make investor sentiment more fragile.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush upped their target price on AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group set a $35.00 price target on AXT in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their price target on AXT to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AXT currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AXT during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in AXT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in AXT in the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in AXT in the 2nd quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in AXT during the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. Hedge funds and other 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.