AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $64.77, but opened at $59.68. AXT shares last traded at $60.61, with a volume of 1,956,053 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on AXTI shares. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on AXT in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Northland Securities set a $125.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. B. Riley Financial reduced their target price on shares of AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AXT from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

AXT Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,885.00 and a beta of 1.92.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.12. AXT had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 0.96%. The firm had revenue of $47.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.08 million. AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AXT news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total transaction of $384,280.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 hyperlink. Insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AXT by 79.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of AXT by 1,347.0% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 312,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,561,000 after acquiring an additional 291,368 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in AXT by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,928 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $152,000. Finally, Amundi bought a new position in shares of AXT during the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrates used to produce high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its product portfolio includes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, along with related materials and services supporting semiconductor manufacturing.

The company’s substrates are used in applications such as wireless communications, fiber-optic and data-center networking, optical sensing, laser devices, aerospace and defense systems, and solar cells.