AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $41.19 and last traded at $40.97, with a volume of 10209394 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXTI. UBS Group set a $35.00 target price on AXT in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on shares of AXT to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

AXT Stock Up 16.8%

The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -85.35 and a beta of 1.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.67.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David C. Chang sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.84, for a total value of $371,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 132,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,969,920.96. This represents a 15.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.05, for a total transaction of $421,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,495,564 shares in the company, valued at $30,071,546.20. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 110,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,000 over the last three months. Insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State of Wyoming bought a new position in AXT during the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the 4th quarter valued at about $98,000. Oasis Management Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AXT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $164,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AXT by 1,071.5% during the fourth quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 11,012 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in AXT during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.