AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on AXT in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush set a $7.00 target price on shares of AXT and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, B. Riley lowered shares of AXT from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.75.

AXT Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AXTI opened at $22.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of -42.48 and a beta of 1.94. AXT has a 1 year low of $1.13 and a 1 year high of $26.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.59.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.08. AXT had a negative net margin of 25.22% and a negative return on equity of 11.19%. The company had revenue of $27.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.85 million. On average, research analysts expect that AXT will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AXT

In other AXT news, Director David C. Chang sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total transaction of $894,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 207,744 shares in the company, valued at $1,857,231.36. This trade represents a 32.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.41, for a total transaction of $30,587.17. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 118,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $999,738.75. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 326,767 shares of company stock valued at $3,329,808. 8.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in AXT by 2.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 293,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares during the period. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of AXT in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $86,000. White Pine Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AXT by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 860,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 23,467 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in AXT during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in AXT by 12.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,952 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 2,540 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

About AXT

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.