AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $5.38.

AXT Trading Down 18.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AXTI opened at $2.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $118.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.02 and a beta of 2.28. AXT has a 52 week low of $1.89 and a 52 week high of $5.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.51.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.50 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 21.01% and a negative return on equity of 7.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AXT will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AXT by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AXT in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in AXT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in AXT in the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in AXT in the first quarter valued at approximately $77,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AXT

AXT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates. The company offers indium phosphide for use in data center connectivity using light/lasers, high-speed data transfer in data centers, 5G communications, fiber optic lasers and detectors, consumer devices, passive optical networks, silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, thermo-photovoltaics, RF amplifier and switching, infrared light-emitting diode (LEDS) motion control, lidar for robotics and autonomous vehicles, and infrared thermal imaging.