AXT Inc $AXTI Stock Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 56.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,170 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 22,185 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AXT were worth $1,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dupree Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of AXT by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 14,349 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in AXT by 6.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. purchased a new stake in AXT during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in AXT by 6.9% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. increased its stake in AXT by 143.1% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 1,269 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXTI. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on AXT from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of AXT in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AXT presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.80.

AXT Stock Performance

AXT stock traded down $1.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.84. 10,606,352 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,823,147. The company’s 50-day moving average is $62.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.24. AXT Inc has a 52-week low of $8.44 and a 52-week high of $143.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.98 and a beta of 2.01.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.10. AXT had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 18.53%. The firm had revenue of $73.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.00 million. Analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AXT

In other news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total value of $384,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 113,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,868,303.03. This represents 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 at this hyperlink. 5.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AXT 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.