AXT Inc (AXTI) – What Are Investment Firms Saying About This Stock?

Shares of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.80.

A number of brokerages have commented on AXTI. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on AXT from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised 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. Zacks Research upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings raised AXT from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on AXT in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Insider Transactions at AXT

In other AXT news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of AXT stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total transaction of $384,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 113,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,868,303.03. The trade was a 3.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AXTI. California State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at about $3,670,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in AXT by 112.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 776,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,234,000 after acquiring an additional 410,181 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,395,000. Capstone Capital Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of AXT by 106.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capstone Capital Management Ltd now owns 75,650 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 39,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP acquired a new stake in AXT during the first quarter worth about $18,842,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Stock Performance

NASDAQ AXTI opened at $46.97 on Thursday. AXT has a one year low of $8.44 and a one year high of $143.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.38 and a beta of 2.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.99.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.10. AXT had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 18.53%. The company had revenue of $73.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.00 million. Equities analysts expect that AXT will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AXT Company 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.